Frankie Welch's Americana - by Ashley Callahan (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Ashley Callahan's richly illustrated book, Frankie Welch's Americana: Fashion, Scarves, and Politics, with a foreword by LaDonna Harris, illuminates Frankie Welch's remarkable career by discussing her designs as they relate to the tradition of political swag, reflect women's changing roles in politics and business, and embody fashion styles of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Welch began fashion consulting (advising individuals what clothing to wear and buy) in the early 1950s and established her dress shop, Frankie Welch of Virginia, in Alexandria in 1963. She deftly navigated the complex social and political connections in the Washington, D.C. area, and her shop became a leading fashion destination for the political set. She created thousands of signature scarves for political campaigns, both major political parties, clubs, schools and alumni groups, corporations, and foundations as diverse as McDonald's, the Smithsonian Institution, United Way, the Algonquin Hotel, the United States Air Force, TimeLife Books, the Folger Shakespeare Library, McCormick Spice, the New York Jets, the National Press Club, the National Trucking Association, and the University of Georgia. She provided scarves for Betty Ford, Jimmy Carter, and the Reagan/Bush inauguration. Frankie Welch's Americana also identifies significant designs and discusses their creation, use, and influence in detail. It also highlights how Welch embraced and promoted her role as an entrepreneur, building a niche business that capitalized on her location near Washington and political connections, as well as her fashion expertise. Each scarf design offers an opportunity for a general audience to view the nation's recent past through the informative lens of women's fashion, and the story of Welch's success presents an appealing, accessible narrative"--

Book Synopsis

Frankie Welch (1924-2021) combined a creative mind and an entrepreneurial spirit to establish herself as a leading American textile, accessories, and fashion designer in a career that spanned four decades, from the 1960s through the 1990s. This lavishly illustrated book provides a lively account of her life and career, tracing her rise from the small town of Rome, Georgia, to her role as a doyenne of fashion in the Washington, D.C., area. Featuring her scarf and fashion designs for the 1968 presidential campaigns, the history of her influential dress shop in Alexandria, Virginia, her connections to first ladies and other D.C. tastemakers, and her exuberant embrace of Americana during the U.S. Bicentennial, this history weaves Welch's personal biography into the literal fabric of our country.

Frankie Welch's Americana discusses significant designs and their creation, use, and influence in detail, while highlighting how Welch embraced and promoted her role as an entrepreneur, building a niche business that capitalized on her location near Washington and her political connections. Welch was most widely known for her custom scarves, and each design offers an opportunity for readers to view the nation's recent past through the informative lens of women's fashion.

Welch designed thousands of scarves for many clients, including Betty Ford, Furman University, McDonald's, the National Press Club, the Hubert Humphrey presidential campaign, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Garden Club of Georgia. Concise and well researched, Frankie Welch's Americana is the first book to document the ambition and accomplishments of one of the South's most prominent fashion authorities of the second half of the twentieth century.

Review Quotes

Callahan, a decorative arts scholar, uses interviews with Welch's family and archival research to reveal a detailed biography of Frankie Welch. . . .--Gabriela Gomez-Misserian "Garden and Gun"

The Frankie dress, the Cherokee Alphabet scarf, the Carter peanut print, Betty Ford's Fifty State Flowers dress, Americana handkerchiefs: Ashley Callahan ties, knots, and unfolds these and a myriad of other fascinating facts, placing Frankie Welch firmly and forever among the list of most important American fashion and textile designers of the second half of the twentieth century. Reading this book is as magical as it must have been to witness Frankie tie a scarf herself.--José Blanco "editor of the multi-award-winning four-volume encyclopedia Clothing and Fashion: American Fashion from Head to Toe"

This book is more than a biography--it's a testament to the power of objects to reveal stories of the people who left them behind and the importance of preserving and sharing the stories of lesser-known fashion figures. Packed with detail, it feels like you're digging through Welch's personal archives alongside Callahan, being treated to inspiring and entertaining stories along the way. It also offers a rare glimpse into the production side of America's midcentury fashion industry, exploring numerous facets of the fashion business from a unique southern perspective.--Sara Idacavage, fashion historian "associate editor of the Fashion Studies Journal"

Frankie Welch's Americana introduces readers to the ultimate Washington insider. With charm, skill, and entrepreneurial zeal, Welch worked her way into the closets of first ladies and other political women as a stylist, personal shopper, and designer of campaign fashions. Ashley Callahan's lively telling of the story of Welch's career makes an important contribution to the story of American design.--Susan Brown, associate curator, textiles, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum

About the Author

ASHLEY CALLAHAN has an MA in the history of American decorative arts from Parsons School of Design and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and a BA in art history from Sewanee, the University of the South. Callahan, an independent scholar and former curator of decorative arts at the Georgia Museum of Art, is the author of Southern Tufts: The Regional Origins and National Craze for Chenille Fashion (Georgia); Georgia Bellflowers: The Furniture of Henry Eugene Thomas; Modern Threads: Fashion and Art by Mariska Karasz; and Enchanting Modern: Ilonka Karasz and coauthor of Crafting History: Textiles, Metals, and Ceramics at the University of Georgia. She lives in Athens, Georgia.