Fashion Designer Lilly Pulitzer Dies

 

Lilly Pulitzer, a Palm Beach socialite turned designer, whose signature tropical print dresses became a sensation in the 1960s and later a fashion classic, died on Sunday 7^th April.

Born in New York in 1931 to oil heiress and socialite Lillian Bostwick McKim and her husband, Robert McKim, Pulitzer was known for her colourful, tropical-printed dresses and blouses which were worn by her close friend and US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Pulitzer, who eloped with Herbert Pulitzer of the famous newspaper family, got her start in fashion by spilling orange juice on her clothes.

A rich housewife with time to spare and a husband who owned orange groves, she opened a juice stand in 1959, and asked her seamstress to make dresses in colorful prints that would camouflage fruit stains.

The clothes seemed to outsell her drinks they became so popular they were bought by department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue.

Unfortunately, her fashion collection became unpopular in the 80s causing her to discontinue the clothing line. In 1993 the line was revived after being acquired by Pennsylvania-based Sugartown Worldwide Inc, she then served as creative consultant.