Lilly: Palm Beach, Tropical Glamour, and the Birth of a Fashion Legend

* You see them every summer: floridly bright and dazzlingly patterned shifts worn by country club ladies and girls of all ages. Back in style again (though in some quarters they never went out), Lilly Pulitzer dresses rank among the icons of 20th century American fashion. Their eponymous creator was a native of the upper crust — born Lillian Lee McKim, she went to Chapin as a classmate of Jacqueline Bouvier's — and her marriage to Peter Pulitzer was vaguely scandalous because of his Jewish roots and the young couple’s plan to live in Florida (Lilly was ""Palm Beach royalty"" via her stepfather, Ogden Phipps) year-round. Her dress business began in a juice stand (the Pulitzers owned groves); before long, the Lilly, an easy-to-wear shift in colorful cotton, became more popular than the juices.Livingston, a journalist covering the resort beat, tells Pulitzer's story with admiration and a keen eye for luxury. Relentlessly peppy and fueled by gossip, the book can read like a particularly long society-page dispatch — or a publicity notice for the clothing brand — but at times it's great fun, as when Pulitzer responds to a retailer asking her to make fall or winter clothing: ""Oh, but you don't understand, it’s always summer somewhere."" ( Boston Globe , December 2012) Some women brood on their dullness like Chekhov characters staring out windows. What's interesting about Lilly Pulitzer is that she confesses it cheerfully and by so doing persuades us that it might not be true. The case for it can be made, however—she was never known for working the fashion shows with a chrome-steel attitude or swanning around with Paris couturiers. Winter and summer, she liked being in Palm Beach, Fla., where her clothing was a sort of folk art of the very rich, summer clothes for a world where, as she said, ""it's always summer somewhere.""Now, at 80, a Palm Beach homebody, she is the subject of a short, airy biography by Kathryn Livingston, ""Lilly: Palm Beach, Tropical Glamour, and the Birth of a Fashion Legend.""To my surprise, I learned that I kind of like her. Surprise because I grew up with my nose pressed to the window of Lilly Land, but I was looking out, not in, seeking freedom from Connecticut cocktail hours, rich people complaining that they were broke (""totally stoners""), mixed doubles in tennis, and porch parties where women wore hair pulled back as tight as the silk on Christmas-tree balls. Once in a while a man would wear a necktie as a belt, a Brooks Brothers buccaneer. ( Wall Street Journal , December 2012) From the Inside Flap Born into a legendary family surrounded by wealth and privilege, Lilly Pulitzer is an iconoclast who has become a fashion icon. Lilly's trademark colorful shift dresses defined high-society casual chic in the 1960s, and her brand continues to delight and enchant a whole new generation of women today. With Lilly, set against the glittering background of Palm Beach, Kathryn Livingston presents the first biography of this fascinating, complex, remarkable woman. Always one to opt for the unconventional, Lilly dropped out of college after one semester to become a nurse's aide in Appalachia, then eloped with publishing heir Peter Pulitzer at age twenty and moved full-time to Palm Beach, one of America's most notorious enclaves for the very rich. Peter worked in the orange-growing industry, and Lilly began her career by setting up a fruit juice stand on the famously upscale Worth Avenue. Lilly started designing and wearing simple, colorful dresses to provide comfort while she worked under the hot Florida sun. The exuberant patterns of her shifts, known as Lillys, soon caught the attention of her wealthy patrons. Lillys became the Palm Beach snob uniform and were quickly adopted by her neighbors and socialite customers from all over who wintered in Palm Beach. After Lilly's former schoolmate First Lady Jackie Kennedy was photographed with her family wearing a Lilly in Hyannis Port, seemingly every woman in America wanted to have one. Lilly Pulitzer is an intensely private person, and her often tumultuous personal life has been touched by more than its share of tragedy and scandal. Lilly examines in depth the many struggles Lilly has endured in her life. Lilly and Peter seemed to be the picture of domestic bliss but Peter's infidelities (revealed during the divorce from his second wife, Roxanne) and constant traveling tore Lilly and Peter apart. After her divorce, Lilly found new love with her second husband, Enrique, a patrician Cuban-American, and they enjoyed several years of happiness, but he died too soon. Lilly is the story of a devoted mother who worked hard and created a thriving business at a time when most mothers, especially wealthy ones, didn't work. It is a story about exceptional luxury, love, betrayal, despair, and triumph. Featuring rare photos that reveal the guarded world of Lilly Pulitzer and her family and friends, Lilly combines a richly textured true tale of fashion magic and business success with a riveting tour of the lifestyles of the richest and most celebrated people in the spectacular resort known as Palm Beach. Lilly is a uniquely American story. Advance Praise for Lilly "I met Lilly Pulitzer when I first came to America and visited Palm Beach. She was a very dynamic and talented designer who became the Emilio Pucci of America. This inspiring book is well deserved and a truly great read." —Diane von Furstenberg "Lilly Pulitzer is an American original, an iconic female maverick. She has touched so many women and girls with her beautiful clothes and style—I still treasure my own Lillys from over the years. This fascinating biography captures her wonderful spirit." —Cornelia Guest " Lilly is a captivating once-upon-a-time story about a woman, a dress, and a dream. In this book, Kathryn Livingston paints a vivid and multi-hued portrait of the iconic designer and the glittering, glamorous world that was her birthright." —Deborah Davis , author of Party of the Century and Gilded "Lilly Pulitzer is a trailblazing designer whose style defines tropical preppy chic. Her life has been as dramatic as the colors in her signature Lillys, and this biography tells her personal and business story with both empathy and insight." —Countess LuAnn de Lesseps "I came from a French couture background and was covering strictly haute couture designers in the sixties, but what got my attention were the short and snappy dresses unexpectedly coming not from France or New York, but rather Palm Beach! Pulitzer's Lillys were clean and contemporary like Courrèges and bright and happy like Marimekko. Made by a young society woman who understood what her friends wanted to wear, Lillys were very proper and comme il faut . Reading Kathryn Livingston's riveting book makes me realize that Lilly Pulitzer is a most clever designer and a very real, admirable woman who has faced life's ups and downs with hard work and determination." —China Machado , model and former fashion director, Harper's Bazaar KATHRYN LIVINGSTON began her writing career as a staff writer at Harper's Bazaar . As an editor for many years at Town & Country, she pioneered innovative ways of profiling the inner sanctums of privilege and power across America and the world. Her editorial work continued at Time Inc. and later as creative director of acclaimed upscale publications for Tiffany & Co. and Neiman Marcus. She is the author or coauthor of several books, including In the Spirit of Aspen and High Rise Low Down. She lives in New York City. Read more