The Frankie

Welch introduced her signature dress design, the “Frankie,” around 1964 and it remained popular well into the 1980s. The versatile dress had a simple, paper-doll-like pattern that Welch first created for a class she taught at the University of Maryland in order to demonstrate various historic waistlines. The Frankie could be worn multiple ways: tied in the front or in the back, with a high waist or natural waist, crossed over the chest or not, with the zippered side in back or front. The dress changed character depending on the fabric, color, texture, trim, and method of tying.