Lillian Pulitzer Rousseau, better known as Lilly Pulitzer, was an American
socialite and fashion designer. She founded Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., which
produces clothing and other such wares featuring bright, colorful, floral
prints. As the brand is popular with high society, she was called the "Queen
of Prep". Early life
Lillian Lee "Lilly" McKim was born to socialites Robert V. McKim and his wife,
Lillian in Roslyn, New York in 1931, the middle daughter of three. Her elder
sister was named Mary Maude, and her younger sister was Florence Fitch. Her
mother, Lillian Bostwick McKim was an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune.
Robert and Lillian McKim divorced, and Lillian remarried, to Ogden Phipps, in
1937. She attended the Chapin School in New
York City, along with Bouvier sister Jacqueline Lee. In 1949, she graduated
from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. She attended the
college-finishing school Finch College in New York City, but left after one
semester to work as a midwife assistant with Frontier Nursing Service in
Kentucky {according to townandcountrymag.com} and as a
volunteer at the Veterans Hospital in The Bronx.
Career Lilly and husband Peter Pulitzer settled
in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after their marriage. Peter owned several
Florida citrus orange 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, she
designed a sleeveless shift dress made of bright, colorful printed cotton. She
found out that customers loved her dress, so she produced more in order to
sell them at her juice stand. Eventually, she was selling more dresses
than juice, and decided to focus on designing and selling what had become
known as her "Lillys". In 1959, Lilly Pulitzer became president
of her own company, Lilly Pulitzer, Inc. The company's main factory was located
in Miami, Florida and the fabrics were produced by the Key West Hand Print
Fabrics company in Key West. From the 1960s to the early 1980s, Pulitzer's
bright, colorful clothes were very popular, worn by elites such as
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Caroline Kennedy, and members of the Rockefeller,
Vanderbilt and Whitney families. Lilly Pulitzer was a former classmate of
Jackie's. After Jackie was featured in Life magazine donning one of Lilly's
famous shifts, many preppy ladies followed her lead. The Jacqueline dress
is one of Lilly Pulitzer's most successful styles. By 1984, Lilly closed
down the entire clothing operation. = Revival of the brand =
In 1993, the rights to the brand were purchased by Sugartown Worldwide, Inc.
They contacted Pulitzer with the hopes of reviving the brand because, "they
just loved Lilly, their mothers and sisters loved Lilly, and they wanted to
bring the line back," Pulitzer said. Pulitzer was not involved in the
day-to-day administration of the company, but she continued to serve in
the role of creative consultant, approving new designs, fabrics, and
collections, and branching out into other product lines.
Today, the company maintains 75 Lilly Pulitzer Signature Stores.
23 company-owned retail stores, sells to independently owned stores and is in
major department stores such as Belk, Lord and Taylor, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth
Avenue and Neiman Marcus. On December 21, 2010, Sugartown Worldwide, Inc. was
purchased by Oxford Industries, Inc. In April 2015, Target announced a
collaboration with Lilly Pulitzer. Within hours, the exclusive collection
was almost entirely sold out, in stores and online.
Products Along with women's clothing, the company
also produces men's clothing, children's clothing, maternity clothes, shoes,
jewelry, accessories, bedding, and stationery. The company launched an
exclusive Bridal Collection in 2010. The company now has a collaboration with
Target which has been controversial. Lilly Pulitzer fans were offended that
the brand would be offered at discounted prices, and demand was so high for the
collection that it likely crashed the Target website, angering many customers
who were unable to purchase any of the products. The official launch date for
the products was April 19, 2015. Pulitzer published a pair of lifestyle
books—Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining and Essentially
Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Holidays—with her friend, author Jay Mulvaney,
showcasing her entertaining style. She also released two desk calendar books,
Essentially Lilly 2005 Social Butterfly Engagement Calendar and Essentially
Lilly 2006 Party Animal Engagement Calendar. She was known to make special
collections with sorority prints on them. She has held contests on her
Facebook page to vote on which sororities will get their own prints. In
2014, Lilly Pulitzer stopped the production of sorority printed items.
Personal life In 1950, she eloped with Herbert
Pulitzer Jr., grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The couple had three
children: Peter, Minnie and Liza. 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. Lilly continued to reside in Palm Beach, FL,
and Rousseau died from cancer in 1993. Death
On April 7, 2013, aged 81, Pulitzer Rousseau died at her home in Palm Beach,
Florida. Cultural impact
Lisa Birnbach's tongue-in-cheek guides, The Official Preppy Handbook and its
sequel True Prep: It’s a Whole New Old World, feature Lilly Pulitzer clothing
as must-have items for "preppy" women. The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion
History in Boynton Beach, Florida, ran an exhibit from August 2010 through May
2011 about the clothing and designs of Lilly Pulitzer. Museum director Lori
Durante stated "Lilly Pulitzer fashion is relative to the American experience
... [it] is relevant to Palm Beach County, to Florida."
Gallery References
External links Official site
p:www.garnethill.comlilly-pulitzer-home/ Lilly Pulitzer Home at Garnet Hill