Frances Francis personal message to you:
Meet Frances Francis
Frances Francis designs clothing for women that have the look of fit without being fitted. Frances Francis has been designing clothes since she was a young girl. Designing and sewing run in her family. Frances’ great aunts had a prominent tailoring shop on Newbury Street in Boston. Family stories told of them shopping in Paris for new designs and fabrics. Aunt Eleanor proudly remembers the dresses they made for her dances.
After 24 years of designing clothes under her own label, Frances is stepping back slightly from the design process, changing and adjusting her focus to a broader perspective on style.
THE BEGINNING
Her own path to clothing design took years of hard work. It was 1980 when Frances fell in love with weaving which led her to begin classes at Massachusetts College of Art and a dual major in textiles and fashion design. After completing her degree she began showing her handwoven clothing line at American Craft Shows. In 1992 she applied to a newly developed graduate program at The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and earned her Master’s Degree in Textile Design. After designing sweaters in New York and Boston areas Frances’ love of Cape Cod drew her back to the area. A wholesale company was started in Eastham and she participated in shows around the country to grow her new business. Frances reconnected with a Korean friend that she met while interning who had started up her own sewing factory and became one of her clients. Shortly after Frances hired local Cape and Fall River women to make her clothing that was sold to boutiques around the country for twelve years.
CREATING FASHION WITH STYLE
In 2003 Frances opened her first boutique in a rustic barn in Wellfleet and followed with a second in Orleans.
“This store is open with light from 4 big windows, it has the feel of a French salon to me,” she says. Frances produces two “lifestyle lines” a season, both of which are adaptable to relaxed special occasions, the workplace and a casual lifestyle. Frances’s success is in large part due to her perseverance in following her passion. “My designs incorporate the unity of form, color and fabric that harmonize with the body; the cut of these clothes provide a sizing that fits a variety of body types,” concludes Frances.
WHERE ARE WE NOW
Frances moved her Wellfleet location from the quaint summer barn to a gorgeous, spacious Greek Revival house in the center of Wellfleet in 2016. In this new space Frances is expanding her creative vision and focusing her deep experience in apparel design on curating fabulous collections that are unique, interesting, fun, functional and on the edge of high fashion. Inspired by the ever-changing market and her passion for travel she seeks out interesting fabrics, style, construction and form that continue to excite her returning customers and win over new ones.
These select clothes and accessories created by smaller design studios and well-known designers from the USA and Europe, including her own Frances Francis label, can be found in both the Wellfleet and Orleans boutiques, which are open nearly year-round.
OUR TEAM
FRANCES
OWNER
JANET
STORE STYLISH
SIGGY
STORE STYLISH
CAROL
STORE STYLISH
DEBBIE
STORE STYLISH
WHAT OUR CUSTOMER SAY
Great place to shop!
Got an amazing dress on sale
So many great things
Fashion victims need not go
This has beautiful and unique clothing. Sales help wonderful
I will be back!
“Frannies’ clothing is the best I’ve ever seen in a boutique. It’s fashionable, completely unique and so stylish. I have several Frances Francis pieces and I feel beautiful when wearing them.”
“Creative artistic styles, wonderful fabrics and fun and kind assistance”
