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Discover Frankie Welch
Frankie Welch at the White House with the ‘Discover America’ scarf, 1968. Collection of Frankie Welch, Peggy Welch Williams and Genie Welch Leisure.
She was famous for dressing First Lady Betty Ford, designing a scarf commissioned by Lady Bird Johnson for the 1968 “Discover America” campaign, and for her creative direction in fashioning various other scarves and dresses for Washington’s political elite. Mary Frances “Frankie” (Barnett) Welch (1924-2021), a 1948 Furman University alumna, was remembered in TOWN Magazine. Welch, also known for a popular mainstream dress design, “The Frankie,” was also a successful businesswoman, opening a boutique in Virginia. Her creations are archived or are on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, the White House Historical Association, the Smithsonian, Furman University Special Collections and Archives, and the University of Georgia’s Special Collections Library.