Ann Lowe, who designed gowns for debutantes and society brides, including the gown Jacqueline Bouvier wore when she married Senator John F. Kennedy, died last Wednesday after a long illness in the Queens home of her daughter, where she had lived for the last five years. She was 82 years old.
The gown the future First Lady wore for her marriage in 1953 in Newport, R.I., was described as one ''of silk taffeta, with a fitted bodice embellished with interwoven bands of tucking, finished with a portrait neckline and a bouffant skirt.''
But although her products were described in detail in the society pages, Mrs. Lowe was ''society's best-kept secret,'' according to a magazine portrait of her in 1964.
According to the article in The Saturday Evening Post, the matrons of the country's leading families, including the du Ponts, Lodges, Auchinclosses and Hamiltons, passed Mrs. Lowe's name from generation to generation. An Exclusive Clientele
She charged what was then a lot of money for a dress - $500 for the Kennedy gown - but her clients were sometimes able to talk down her prices, so that, after paying her seamstresses, she often lost money, according to the magazine article. Seventeen years ago, at the height of her career, she was said to be almost penniless.
Mrs. Lowe was determined to work for only the best families. ''I've been as careful about the people I work for as any social climber,'' she told the magazine. ''I don't do many dresses, so I have to be selective.''
Mrs. Lowe was born in Grayton, Ala. She was the daughter of a dressmaker and was educated in Montgomery at the S.T. Taylor Design School. She married Lee Cohen. Their son, Arthur Lee, was her partner in business until his death in 1958. Five Designs in Museum
She came to New York in 1928 and worked for various salons and the Saks Fifth Avenue department store, opening her own Madison Avenue shop, Ann Lowe Originals, in 1968. Her dresses were all originals, never mass-produced. Five of her designs are in the costume institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In addition to her daughter, Ruth Alexander, Mrs. Lowe is survived by a granddaughter and two great grandchildren. Her funeral will be Tuesday at St. Marks United Methodist Church, 138th Street and Edgecombe Avenue, Manhattan.
A wedding gown designed by Lowe for First Lady Jackie Kennedy