October 13th 2023.
Annie Jewell Moore, the oldest living Spelman College alumnus, just celebrated her 104th birthday. To honor her lifelong work in the fashion industry, she was featured in a FOX 5 news segment.
Born on September 20th, 1919, Moore was inspired to pursue fashion at a young age when she saw the doll clothes made by the daughter of a family friend. She said, “I wanted to learn to sew like that. And that was my earliest inspiration to get into fashion.”
Moore continued her passion in college and was one of the first African Americans to study at the Traphagen School of Fashion, the New York Fashion Academy, and Paris’ École Guerre Lavigna after graduating in 1943. Her designs were featured in prominent magazines such as Vogue and Jet, and she also created costumes for Broadway productions.
Moore opened her own haute couture salon, Ann Moore Couturier, in Detroit in 1963. There, she sold fashionable day and evening wear. Later, she returned to Atlanta and served as president of the Benefactors of Education, a nonprofit organization which provides scholarships and financial assistance to students interested in fashion and the arts.
Moore’s accomplishments have been celebrated with a clothing collection at the Atlanta History Center’s Rountree Visual Vault. Despite her age, she still has a creative mentality around fashion and offered this piece of advice to WABE: “Be in control of your own fashion.”
This inspiring story of Moore's 104th birthday and her accomplishments in the fashion industry demonstrate that passion and hard work can carry you far in life.
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