Fashion Definitions — fashion history, brands and industry terms from Apparel Search
Lilly Pulitzer, born in 1931 in Roslyn, New York, is a socialite and prominent fashion designer. After opening a juice stand in Palm Beach, Florida, she asked her dressmaker to design a sleeveless shift dress in bright, colorful printed cotton to camouflage juice stains, and customers loved it. She soon sold more dresses than juice and focused on designing and selling her Lillys.
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Pulitzer was born Lillian McKim to a socialite family in Roslyn, New York, in 1931; Lilly was her nickname among her friends. In 1949, she graduated from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. Shortly after graduating, she eloped with Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. Together, they settled in Palm Beach, Florida, where they lived opulently. Peter owned several Florida citrus groves, and with produce from the groves Lilly opened a juice stand on Via Mizner, just off Worth Avenue in Palm Beach.
In the course of working at the juice stand, Lilly found that squeezing juice made a mess of her clothes. Seeking to camouflage the juice stains, Lilly asked her dressmaker to design a sleeveless shift dress made of bright, colorful printed cotton. Lilly loved the dress that was produced for her, and it would later become her "Classic Shift Dress."
Lilly quickly found that customers loved her dress, and so she had her dressmaker produce more in order to sell at her juice stand. Soon, however, she was selling more dresses than juice, so she decided to stop selling juice and instead focus on designing and selling what had become known as her "Lillys." Jackie Kennedy, then the First Lady, who Lilly knew from Miss Porter's, was one of the first celebrities to sport Lilly's shift dress, and was featured in Life Magazine wearing one. Lilly's shift dresses suddenly became a fashion sensation.
In 1969, Lilly and Peter were divorced. She married Enrique Rousseau shortly thereafter. Although she legally changed her name to "Lillian McKim Rousseau", her clothing company continued to operate under the "Lilly Pulitzer" label with amazing success. Lilly continued to enjoy Palm Beach life, watching her children grow up and seeing her grand children grow too. Sadly, Enrique passed away from cancer in 1993 just as the fashion label was revived.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Lilly's bright, colorful, well-made clothes were very popular and continued to be high-prized items. In 1980, Lisa Birnbach's bestselling tongue-in-cheek "guide" The Official Preppy Handbook featured a golf skirt and "Lilly beach dress" as must-have items for "preppy" women. Arguably, Lilly Pulitzer's clothing was at the height of its original popularity in the early 1980s. In 1984, however, Lilly retired so as to spend time with her grandchildren, and closed down her entire clothing operation.
Thus, it came as a surprise to the fashion world when in January 1993 Lilly Pulitzer allowed her line to be revived; Lilly is not involved in the day administration of the company, but she maintains a creative consultant roll, approving new designs, fabrics, and collections. Good sales have inspired branching out into other product lines. The company also produces Lilly bedding, mens clothing, maternity clothes, jewelry, and accessories. Today, the company maintains 77 Lilly Pulitzer boutiques, several company-owned retail stores, and sells in major department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bloomingdales.
Recently, she published several coffee table books with author Jay Mulvaney about the history of Lilly fashion and her company, along with lifestyle cues and recipes. Lilly has also published two successful desk calendar books. She still lives in her "Jungle" in Palm Beach, enjoying time spent with her 7 grandchildren, her extended family of friends, and consulting with the Lilly Company on new product lines and designs.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilly_Pulitzer 2/6/06 |
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Designer Definition (from U.S Department of Labor)
Lilly Pulitzer was born Lillian McKim to a socialite family in Roslyn, New York, in 1931; Lilly was her nickname. In 1949 she graduated from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, and eloped with Peter Pulitzer, grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. They settled in Palm Beach, Florida, where Peter owned several citrus groves, and with produce from the groves Lilly opened a juice stand on Via Mizner, just off Worth Avenue.
The famous dress began as a practical fix. In the course of working at the juice stand, Lilly found that squeezing juice made a mess of her clothes. Seeking to camouflage the juice stains, she asked her dressmaker to design a sleeveless shift dress made of bright, colorful printed cotton, and she loved the dress that was produced. The design logic is worth noticing: a busy, bright print does not prevent stains, it hides them, and a sleeveless shift is a simple, cool shape suited to Florida work. That dress later became her Classic Shift Dress, so a garment designed to disguise splashes at a juice stand became the company's signature product.
Lilly quickly found that customers loved her dress, so she had her dressmaker produce more to sell at her juice stand. Soon she was selling more dresses than juice, so she decided to stop selling juice and instead focus on designing and selling what had become known as her Lillys. The business therefore changed by demand rather than by plan: the dresses were an addition to the stand that overtook the stand itself. Jackie Kennedy, then the First Lady, who Lilly knew from Miss Porter's, was one of the first celebrities to sport Lilly's shift dress and was featured in Life Magazine wearing one, and Lilly's shift dresses suddenly became a fashion sensation. A school connection, a First Lady's wardrobe and a national magazine photograph combined to carry a local Palm Beach product to a national audience.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Lilly's bright, colorful, well-made clothes were very popular. In 1980 Lisa Birnbach's bestselling guide The Official Preppy Handbook featured a golf skirt and a Lilly beach dress as must-have items for preppy women. Arguably the clothing was at the height of its original popularity in the early 1980s. In 1969 Lilly and Peter were divorced and she married Enrique Rousseau; although she legally changed her name to Lillian McKim Rousseau, her company continued under the Lilly Pulitzer label.
In 1984 Lilly retired so as to spend time with her grandchildren and closed down her entire clothing operation — a complete closure, not a sale or a handover. It therefore came as a surprise to the fashion world when in January 1993 Lilly Pulitzer allowed her line to be revived. Enrique passed away from cancer in 1993, just as the fashion label was revived. Lilly is not involved in the day-to-day administration of the revived company, but she maintains a creative consultant role, approving new designs, fabrics and collections — a division between ownership of the creative standard, which she keeps, and daily management, which she does not resume.
Good sales inspired branching out into other product lines, including bedding, men's clothing, maternity clothes, jewelry and accessories. Today the company maintains 77 Lilly Pulitzer boutiques and sells in major department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales. She also published coffee table books with Jay Mulvaney about the history of Lilly fashion, and still lives in Palm Beach, enjoying time with her seven grandchildren and consulting on new designs.
Working at her Palm Beach juice stand, Lilly found squeezing juice made a mess of her clothes. She asked her dressmaker to design a sleeveless shift dress in bright, colorful printed cotton to camouflage the stains, and customers loved the dress.
Jackie Kennedy, then the First Lady, who Lilly knew from Miss Porter's School, was one of the first celebrities to wear Lilly's shift dress. She was featured in Life Magazine wearing one, and the dresses suddenly became a fashion sensation.
In 1984 Lilly retired and closed down her entire clothing operation. In January 1993 she allowed her line to be revived, maintaining a creative consultant role approving new designs, fabrics and collections.