Lilly - by Kathryn Livingston

Book Synopsis

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.

• Offers a close-up of Palm Beach society, replete with tropical mischief, reckless indulgences and blatant infidelities as well as fascinating stories about the Pulitzer and Phipps families and their world of eccentrics, high achievers, intermarriages, and glamorous trendsetters
• Takes a fresh look at the Roxanne Pulitzer scandal and the atmosphere that fed it, and other episodes involving Lilly Pulitzer's family and social circle
• Traces the many ups-and-downs in Lilly Pulitzer's personal life as well as her business, which suffered a decline in the 1980s before its resurgent transformation into the thriving success it is today
• Includes 25 black-and-white photographs that bring Lilly Pulitzer's world to life

Lilly is a must read not only for fans of Lilly Pulitzer and her Lilly brand, but for anyone interested in a journey through the world of privilege and the life of a true American original.

From the Back Cover

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 Courreges 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"

Review Quotes

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 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, its 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)

About the Author

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.