Designs for Other Presidents

Welch shared a special connection with the First Couple that succeeded the Fords: their home state of Georgia. Joan Nielsen McHale, a friend of Welch’s from Alexandria and former Miami News fashion editor and social columnist, acknowledged the importance of the regional link, recalling, “Naturally, the Georgia Mafia, as Jimmy Carter’s coterie was called, loved one of their own….and that whole contingent shopped Frankie Welch’s boutiques just as each regime had done.” Welch had designed a scarf with peanuts for the Carters in 1973 while he was governor of Georgia, and created a second design when he ran for president in 1976. Rosalynn Carter wore numerous Frankie Welch scarves, both before and during her time in the White House.

Frankie Welch designed this scarf in silk for the Carters in 1973, while Jimmy Carter was governor of Georgia. She reprinted the design on cotton in 1974 and wrote to Mrs. Carter: “‘Peanuts’ was such a delightful scarf to make. . . . It is such a marvelous way to advertise products of your own home state + especially your very own product—peanuts.”

Following the Carter administration, Welch continued to create designs related to presidents and their wives, including numerous scarves and other items for presidential inaugurations. Her last scarf connected to a first family, pictured last in this row of pictures, was one commissioned by the Senate Wives for a First Lady's Luncheon honoring Hillary Clinton in 1993.

From left to right:

Scarf for the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, polyester, 1980
Frankie Welch Textile Collection, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries
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Scarf for George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle inauguration, silk, 1989
Collection of Frankie Welch, Peggy Welch Williams, and Genie Welch Leisure
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Bandana for Bill Clinton and Al Gore inauguration, 1993, cotton
Private Collection
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First Lady’s Luncheon for Hillary Rodham Clinton scarf, silk, 1993
Private Collection