By Her Own Design is the compelling fictionalized biography of Anne Lowe, a talented designer who didn’t receive public acclaim because of her skin color.

By Her Own Design by Piper Huguley

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Biographical, Fashion, Family Life, Racism/Prejudice, Diverse Read, Own Voices, African-American, Southern Fiction, Alabama/Florida/New York

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My Summary of By Her Own Design:

By Her Own Design is the fictionalized biography of fashion designer, Anne Lowe, an incredible woman forgotten by history. Until now. Taught to sew by her mother and grandmother, Anne demonstrated an interest in fashion design from a young age. As a youngster, her special talent involved making fabric flowers (which she turned into a little business). In an effort to grow up quickly and be taken seriously by her family, she married at twelve. Sadly, this was an abusive marriage and Anne along with her baby left and ended up in Florida as a result of significant encouragement from a wealthy white woman. In Florida,, Anne sewed for the family and gained a reputation with the wealthy society ladies. The story follows Anne’s professional and personal life through many ups and downs as she persevered through a few difficult circumstances and setbacks. Anne was “society’s best kept secret” but this also meant that she didn’t receive the recognition or financial rewards that she deserved. Even designing Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding dress didn’t bring the notoriety she yearned for. Anne’s faith in God sustained her, and designing dresses brought her immense pleasure and filled her heart with joy. It’s tragic that she didn’t receive the recognition she deserved in her lifetime because of the color of her skin.

My Thoughts:

Compelling

I found the story of Anne Lowe interesting and compelling for many reasons. For example, despite racism and prejudice, her circumstances, and life’s obstacles, she persevered. At times through creativity and following Plan B and other times through sheer determination. Also, she was devoted to her young son while pursuing her goals. Many of the decisions she made were made with him in mind. She moved, in part, to New York so that he could attend better schools, and she saved money relentlessly for his college education. Anne Lowe had many reasons to be bitter, but she continually rose above that temptation. Overall, the author characterized Anne as a competent, gifted, and thoughtful woman of faith whom we can admire. She was forward-thinking despite hardships and disappointment. I found all these aspects of the story compelling.

Marriage or Career

Women today can have it all, but this wasn’t always true. Often, a woman in the past had to decide which path to follow. Marriage/Family or Career. Anne’s first husband married someone who would take care of him and always be home. He was also abusive, so she didn’t stay long. Husband number two was a better person and was not abusive, but he also became increasingly dissatisfied with Anne’s long hours and devotion to her career. I think they loved each other but she also loved her career and he wanted a more traditional marriage. Even though both husbands knew before marriage that Anne had dreams of her own, they were jealous, felt neglected, and could not cope with Anne”s ambition. Dual-career marriages are more common today, but there are still tensions and negotiations to manage. I imagine that this might be a good book club discussion topic!

Beautiful Ending

I admire an author’s ability to land the ending….in this case to make something thoughtful and beautiful out of the difficult and challenging. My favorite quote (see next paragraph) is taken from the ending..In this heartfelt conclusion, the author truly gives Anne Lowe the honorable recognition she deserves.

Favorite Quote

Some readers might label the white people that helped Anne along the way as “white saviors.” According to this fictionalized account, Anne did not see them this way. In this quote, she speaks of her appreciation for the woman who first saw her and recognized her talent:

“It took one person, one lady with a good heart to see who I was and what I could do in this world…To give me a chance…Mrs. Josephine Lee, my benefactor, helped me, a young woman in a bad marriage with a baby to get out of Alabama. And I knew from that moment when she gave me a $20 bill to buy a train ticket to get from Alabama to Tampa, that the way she had seen me and treated me is the way we should all see and treat one another. For to be able to see someone, to see them as a human being, to see them for what they can contribute to this world, to be a light, to be a force, or an influence in someone else’s life is all that we need….For all of my life…I thought that what I wanted was to be at one of these lovely dinner dances. Now that I’m here, I know that the main thing about this is not the dinner and it’s not the fashion show, it’s that I know that you SEE me, you See what I’ve tried to do all of these years…I see you too.”

Content Consideration: abusive relationship, loss (death of an adult child) and grief, racism/prejudice

Recommending By My Own Design

I hope you can tell that By My Own Design captivated me. I have the highest praise for authors who find the untold stories. I offer my enthusiastic recommendation for readers who appreciate fictionalized biographies about real-life inspirational women. The beginning of the story is difficult to read as twelve-year-old Anne marries someone twice her age. However, if you enjoy themes of beating the odds, self-determination, and pursuing your dreams, you will love this heartfelt and riveting story. I listened to this story and I think the reader did a good job. Thanks to my IRL Book Club for putting this on my reading radar.

Related: Another story about a famous wedding gown you might enjoy is The Gown by Jennifer Robson.

My Rating:  5  Stars

Meet the Author of By Her Own Design, Piper Huguley

Piper G. Huguley’s biographical historical fiction, By Her Own Design: a novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register (William Morrow Publishing) tells the inspiring story of the Black fashion designer of Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress. By Her Own Design was a Booklist top 100 Editor’s Choice selection for 2022, was named one of the top 100 books of 2022 in Canada by the Globe and Mail newspaper and was selected as the historical fiction winner for 2022 by the American Library Association’s Reading Council.

She is also the author of Sweet Tea, a contemporary romance about food and history (of course) and the author of two historical romance series: “Migrations of the Heart”, about the Great Migration and “Home to Milford College”. Her next historical fiction book, American Daughters (2024), is the story of the decades-long interracial friendship between Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington, the rebel teenage daughters of President Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington, respectively. She is a literature professor at Clark-Atlanta University and blogs about the history behind her novels at http://piperhuguley.com . She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son.

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QOTD:

Is this fictionalized biography on your TBR or have you read it?

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