The real story behind a very private American fashion icon—Lilly Pulitzer

Today, Lilly Pulitzer’s iconic brand of clean-cut, vibrantly printed clothes called “”Lillys”” can be spotted everywhere. What began decades ago as a snob uniform in Palm Beach became a general fashion craze and, later, an American classic. In contrast to the high visibility of her brand, Lilly Pulitzer has largely kept her tumultuous personal story to herself. Bursting forth into glossy fame from a protected low-key world of great wealth and high society, through heartbreaks, treacheries, scandals, and losses, her life, told in detail here for the first time, is every bit as colorful and exciting as her designs.

Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining

More than just the woman who created the fashion empire that bears her name, Lilly Pulitzer exemplifies an attitude, a casual sort of elegance, a style called “affluence at ease.” Lilly and her clothing wholeheartedly embrace color — she made famous the pink and green combination — and her love of vibrant hues and bold prints led the New York Times to recently call her “a major force in prep resort wear for forty years.”

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