Lilly Pulitzer
Palm Beach
Barefoot Chic
It all started with a little spilled juice in Palm Beach.
In early 1960, Lilly Pulitzer, then a young, sassy New York socialite married to Peter Pulitzer, was living the life of the rich and famous. Needing a project of her own, she opened a juice stand courtesy of the produce from Peter's many citrus groves.
The business was a hit, however, squeezing oranges, lemons, limes and pink grapefruit made a mess. Realizing she needed a fruit-stand uniform, Lilly asked her dressmaker to design a dress to camouflage the stains. The result? A comfortable sleeveless shift made of bright, colorful printed cotton her customers loved. Soon Lilly was selling more dresses than juice, so she decided to stop squeezing and start designing and selling her "Lillys."
Before long, her friend Jackie Kennedy began wearing Lillys and, as First Lady, Jackie was featured in Life Magazine wearing a Classic Shift. With that, the Lilly Pulitzer line became the unofficial uniform of the affluent at play. Her stores sprang up in the favorite resorts of the jet set and Lilly's pink and green colors became the banner of the preppy lifestyle.
After a brief retirement, The Lilly Pulitzer line was revived in 1993 and is now more popular than ever
The woman who built a business from print dresses designed to hide juice stains and is famous enough to be known only by her first name, wrote two books about her barefoot chic Palm Beach life. Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining and Essentially Lilly Holidays, both with the late Jay Mulvaney, offer recipes, decorating tips and plenty of photos taken during parties at her house.
"Oh, the parties," Lilly said with a sigh.
Well before she became famous for her flowered shift dresses, iconoclastic, bohemian Lilly was known for her parties. When she and her first husband, Peter Pulitzer, moved to Palm Beach in the early 1950s, they lived in a lakefront house and entertained constantly.
After marrying Enrique, she threw huge bashes for his birthday in May with wacky themes such as "South Seas in the Macadamia Nuthouse," or a pretend gubernatorial campaign with Enrique running on the F-lorida A-lternate R-adical T-ycoon ticket.
Palm Beach,
Florida
