Only the Best: The Exceptional Life and Fashion of Ann Lowe

Messner and Powell offer a persevering portrait of fashion designer Ann Lowe (1898–1981), from her early achievements in the South to success designing for Manhattan’s elite, including Jackie Kennedy’s wedding party. Evocative prose describes Lowe’s initial training at her Black family’s dress shop in Alabama and later accomplishments in Florida and New York, with culminating images showing Lowe in front of her own N.Y.C. boutique. Time and again, Lowe’s pride in her work—emphasized through the titular refrain—help her to excel and overcome hardships including structural racism and the death of her mother. Figural renderings by Robinson accompany, foregrounding dreamy ribbons and textile-textured layers that emulate the movement of fabric while picturing Lowe at work on full-skirted gowns. Ages 5–8. (Oct.)