Lilly Goes Boho – print from summer 2009
In the summer of 2009, with the James Printed Slub, Lilly goes Boho.
These pants are a hit no matter when or where I wear them. They make your hiney look tiny which is always good in my book! In fact while wearing them I actually had a woman offer to buy the pants off me as she missed the 2009 sale and wanted them bad…of course I said no, sorry (thinking there is no way I am going home without my pants on…jeez).
Today I am sporting these pants with my ancient Tod’s leather sandals from 2003(?) and a white cable knit Ralph Lauren sweater…(hey it’s cold in the studio at times.)
Lilly Facts: Suzie Zuzek dePoo, her daughters Amy and Martha dePoo, surrogate daughter Leigh Martin Hooten and Peter Pell created the designs used exclusively by Lilly Pulitzer from 1960 to 1985.
Lilly and Peter Pulitzer settled in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after their marriage. Peter owned several Florida citrus 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”.
In 1959, Lilly 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 and her daughter Caroline Kennedy, and members of the Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Whitney families. However, by 1984 Pulitzer felt she was not having as much fun as she used to and retired, closing down her entire clothing operation.
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 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, and branching out into other product lines.
Today, the company maintains 75 Lilly Pulitzer Signature Stores (also known as Via Stores), several company-owned retail stores, sells to independently owned stores and is in major department stores such as Bloomingdales, Lord and Taylor, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. On December 21, 2010, Sugartown Worldwide, Inc. was purchased by Oxford Industries, Inc.