Medium: Silk velvet

Date: c. 1955

Country: USA

Credit: Gift of Eleanor Cates

This dress illustrates Lowe’s mastery of fine dressmaking, incorporating an intricate understructure to shape the hourglass silhouette. Ebony magazine noted in 1966, “She is famous for her expensive hand-sewn formal gowns, each so superbly constructed and fitted with built-in bras that the wearer just steps into one and is ready to go.”

Object Number: 77.60.1