It’s Lilly Kind of Day: My Tribute to Lilly Pulitzer

I love Lilly Pulitzer, and I was so sad to hear of her passing today. I know I am not the only one in the fashion world, and otherwise, to mourn the loss of this Palm Beach Princess who transformed the world of daily wear with her effortless style.

I even remember my first Lilly piece: a simple, pink polo that I bought in Athens. There have been many more outfits since then. I feel a little extra special connection with her as well since we share a birthday (November 10th). You see, us Scorpio women are a force to be recokened with. The story of how she started her clothing business is terribly amusing to me:

” Lilly and 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. Lilly found 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'”. (from Wikipedia)

And so, from the groves of Florida and that juice stand, we have a brand and a design that will last past each of our lifetimes.

I, and others, salute you Ms. Lilly Pulitzer. I will be wearing one of your designs tomorrow, in my own tribute, as I suspect others will as well. And I place photos of myself and my daughter below in our Lilly P finest.

Love to all y’all,

Molly