Only the Best: The Exceptional Life and Fashion of Ann Lowe
Here in the garden outside a tiny dress shop there are no candles No music But quiet laughter and the swish of fabrics drift out a window The sweet smell of honeysuckle almost glimmers in the twilight Ann plucks a blossom and traces the petals
One day she will shape something just as perfect Inside the shop Ann's grandmother unrolls yards of taffeta and tulle Ann's mother measures the fabric against her imagination A dress begins to take shape
A fitted bodice with puffs in the sleeves We can gather the skirt like this Another pin a stitch and a trim While ladies flip through the newest French fashions Ann gathers scraps from the floor Bits of midnight velvet and robin's egg satin Scraps of petal soft silk
Ann snips and tucks gathers and folds The fabrics bloom in her hands They look as real as the blossoms outside
