Frank the Elder and Frank Junior

A few words of freshly Googled wisdom for anyone who, like myself, thought that Frank Usher was all 80s sequins and shoulder padded polyester shirts.  

 

While the top Usher label, the one we all know and love, is very much of the Dallas breed, the lower, lesser known Usher label is something rather different, leaning towards Jackie O and away from Dolly and her sequins!  I think that the best way to explain this rather drastic transformation is that Dallas Usher has a somewhat quieter, rather more polished older sister originating back to 1944.

I myself am the elder of two sisters (not so quiet and polished) and, while we are separated by a number of years, there are a few unifying characteristics – as is the way with siblings!  For my sister and I it is a love of shiny things (her real, me paste), a preference for marmite over peanut butter (although she has graduated to Bovril) and the absolute inability to keep a phone for the duration of our contract, be it dropped down a toilet or left on a bus.

For the Ushers it is a penchant for bold floral prints, appliqué embellishments and over-sized bows long before fashionable.  See images above for evidence.  The Frank Usher website states that, ‘a recent article on Liberty's vintage department cited Frank Usher as being one of the most coveted collector's labels.’  While this may not be strictly fact this brand is fairing nearly as well as Maggie Smith who sported an entire Usher wardrobe in the film Blazes Away in the late sixties.  In fact, rather like Dame Maggie herself in Downton, Frank Usher is still, eighty years on, bold, brash and unashamedly British!

Visit Armstrongs Ebay for a chance to own a little slice of old school Frank Usher!