Lilly Pulitzer was born to a socialite family in Roslyn, New York in 1931; Lilly Lee was her nickname among her friends. She was a middle child with an older sister, Mary Maude (called Memsey) and a younger sister Florence Fitch (Flossie).
She attended the Chapin School in New York City, along with the Bouvier sisters, Jacqueline and Lee. In 1949, she graduated from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. She attended the college-cum-finishing school Finch in New York City, but left after one semester to work as a midwife's assistant in West Virginia and as a volunteer at the Veterans Hospital in The Bronx.
In 1950, she eloped with Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. Together, they settled in Palm Beach, Florida, where they enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle - at least by the standards of Palm Beach at the time (entertaining in the kitchen, walking barefoot down Worth Avenue). The attractive young couple made Palm Beach their year round home where they raised three children (Peter, Liza and Minnie). Peter owned several Floridacitrus 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, 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, Lilly's friend and classmate from Chapin and 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 and grandchildren grow up. Enrique died from cancer in 1993 just as the fashion label was revived.
Clothing
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 to day administration of the company, but she continues to serve in the role of creative consultant, approving new designs, fabrics, and collections. Good sales have inspired branching out into other product lines. The company also produces Lilly bedding, men's clothing, children's clothing, maternity clothes, shoes, jewelry, and accessories. Today, the company maintains 70 Lilly Pulitzer Signature Stores, several company-owned retail stores, and sells in major department stores such as Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus.
Recently, she 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 the "barefoot elegance" that characterizes her entertaining style, as well as two successful desk calendar books, Essentially Lilly 2005 Social Butterfly Engagement Calendar and Essentially Lilly 2006 Party Animal Engagement Calendar. Regarded, to her amusement, as "The Paris Hilton of Palm Beach," Lilly still lives in her "Jungle," enjoying life, her family and friends, and the pursuit of happiness.
In 2006/7, the Lilly Pulitzer identity was rebranded to bring Lilly's aesthetic to a whole new generation and audience to include a men's line and home collection.
