In honour of the summer that is (hopefully) arriving soon, I’ve decided to dip back into my Style History series. Each post details the life and career of a different notable designer, and there aren’t many modern designers in my series. (And a lot of that is simply due to a lack of sources.) With summer on the way, there is no better time to visit the life and career of the Queen of Prep, Lilly Pulitzer. It is a visually specific brand, and has quite a story behind it! Without any haste, let’s look at the Style History of Lilly Pulitzer!
Lilly Pulitzer’s Early Life
Born Lillian Lee McKim, Lilly was born to Robert V McKim and Lillian in New York State in 1931. Her mother an oil heiress in her own right, after her parents’ divorce, Lillian married again to Ogden Phipps, a stockbroker and philanthropist.
It is easy to see the roots of her career in her formative years. Lilly attended the Chapin School in New York, an all-girls independent school on the Upper East Side, with Jacqueline Bouvier. Yes, the one who would go on to marry John F. Kennedy and become the First Lady of the United States, and later marry Aristotle Onasis. Lilly graduated from a prep school in 1949, and attended college for a semester before leaving school to work as a volunteer in a hospital.
A Palm Beach Life
Lilly met and married Herbert “Peter” Pulitzer, the grandson of Joseph Pulitzer and heir to Pulitzer, Inc, in 1952. The couple lived in Palm Beach and were incredibly eccentric. (She was known at the time for having a pet monkey.)
The couple owned several orange groves, and would sell fresh juice at Via Mizner, a historic site in Palm Beach. However, Lilly quickly realised that continually squeezing oranges to make enough juice to sell was quickly staining and ruining her wardrobe. She charged her dressmaker with making her clothing that would better hide the stains, and her brightly coloured patterns were born. Her friends and family loved her bright and colourful dresses, and she started making them to share.
Lilly Pulitzer, Inc. Is Born
In 1959, Lilly created her own company, Lilly Pulitzer, Inc. to manufacture and sell her distinctive dresses. For the next two decades, Lilly dresses were some of the most popular styles. Her old classmate, Jackie Kennedy, was photographed in her LIlly shifts in Life magazine, which helped propel the brand’s status. (Not to mention the Rockefellers, Whitneys, and Vanderbilts who were also wearing their Lilly pieces…) However, by 1984 her signature dress had fallen out of fashion and Lilly ceased clothing operations.
Lilly Returns
In 1993, Sugartown Worldwide, Inc bought the rights to Lilly’s brands, and it has remained open for the last 30 years. There are 75 official Lilly Pulitzer stores, including one on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach that is close to where her original juice stand is now.
Lilly Pulitzer remains a very specific style- their bright patterns feature different animals and locations can quickly become collectors items. You will most often see it in the south of the US, but with reselling becoming more and more popular, you will also see Lilly dresses further afield. (I have several, and I’m in the middle of Canada!) It remains a preppy staple well into the twenty-first century.
If you are interested in reading some of my other Style History profiles, you can find them below:
Were you familiar with the history of Lilly Pulitzer or her designs in general?
Cheers,
The Historian
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So happy I found your site! Looking forward to reading more!
Have you heard of the vested gentress? Bud Jackson original designs, they are fabulous, but no more. We have a vintage collection of them and a vintage collection of Lilly Pulitzer as well. Our collection is probably the largest in near perfect condition that exists.