USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Lifestyle
Home / Lifestyle / Fashion

'Being happy never goes out of style': Lilly Pulitzer

China Daily/Agencies | Updated: 2013-04-10 10:40

Fashion designer of iconic tropical print dresses dies at age 81

Lilly Pulitzer, a Palm Beach socialite turned fashion designer whose tropical print dresses became a sensation in the 1960s and later a fashion classic, died on Sunday. She was 81.

Her death was confirmed by Gale Schiffman of Quattlebaum Funeral and Cremation Services in West Palm Beach. She did not know Pulitzer's cause of death.

Pulitzer, who married into 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.

'Being happy never goes out of style': Lilly Pulitzer

In this undated file photo, scarves design by Lilly Pulitzer are shown. Lilly Pulitzer via Associated Press

The dresses hung on a pipe behind her juice stand and soon outsold her drinks. The company's dresses, developed with the help of partner Laura Robbins, a former fashion editor, soon caught on. "Lilly has been a true inspiration to us and we will miss her," according to a statement on the Lilly Pulitzer brand Facebook page.

Jacqueline Kennedy, who attended boarding school with Pulitzer, even wore one of the sleeveless shifts in a Life magazine photo spread.

The signature Lilly palette features tongue-in-cheek jungle and floral prints in blues, pinks, light greens, yellow and orange - the colors of a Florida vacation.

"I designed collections around whatever struck my fancy ... fruits, vegetables, politics, or peacocks! I entered in with no business sense. It was a total change of life for me, but it made people happy," Pulitzer told The Associated Press in March 2009.

'Being happy never goes out of style': Lilly Pulitzer

'Being happy never goes out of style': Lilly Pulitzer

 Designer brings dreams to life

Judo champ 'restarts' passion, career

Previous 1 2 Next

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US