Lilly Pulitzer Dies At 81

Iconic fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer died Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida. She was 81 years old.

An announcement on the clothing company’s Facebook page confirmed the sad news.

“Early this morning, Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau passed away peacefully in Palm Beach, surrounded by family and loved ones. Lilly has been a true inspiration to us and we will miss her,” the statement says. “In the days and weeks ahead we will celebrate all that Lilly meant to us. Lilly was a true original who has brought together generations through her bright and happy mark on the world.”

Lilly Pulitzer is best known for her bright and colorful floral print clothing. She designed a dress for schoolmate Jacqueline Kennedy — who was a fashion icon in her own right while she was First Lady — using “kitchen curtain material — and people went crazy,” Pulitzer said in her book Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining.

“They took off like zingo,” she added “Everybody loved them, and I went into the dress business.”

The idea for the dresses came from a juice stand Pulitzer had opened up in Palm Beach after she married Herbert (Peter) Pulitzer, grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer, in 1950. She wanted to make colorful dresses that would hide the stains from the juice and designed a sleeveless shift dress made out of bright printed cotton. When customers began falling in love with the dresses, she started producing more and selling them at her juice stand. After awhile, she sold more dresses than juice and decided to focus on designing and selling her “Lillys.”

Pulitzer became president of her own company, Lilly Pulitzer Inc., in 1959. Pulitzer designed clothes until 1984 when she realized she wasn’t having as much fun as she used to and retired. The entire Lilly Pulitzer clothing operation was closed down until 1993, when Sugartown Worldwide contacted Pulitzer and told her they wanted to revive the brand. She agreed and acted as a creative consultant, approving designs and collections and expanding into other product lines, including stationary, maternity clothes, and children’s and men’s clothes.

Lilly Pulitzer and Herbert Pulitzer, who had three children together, divorced in 1969. She married Enrique Rousseau shortly afterward. Her legal name was Lillian McKim Rousseau, but she continued to operate her clothing company under the name Lilly Pulitzer. Pulitzer and Rousseau remained married until his death in 1993.

The cause of Lilly Pulitzer’s death is currently unknown.

We here at The Inquisitr extend our condolences to Lilly Pulitzer’s family and friends.