The socialite-turned fashion designer who said that “Style isn't just about what you wear, it's about how you live,” has died, according to an April 7 CBS News report. Lilly Pulitzer put a happy twist on style and fashion. “We focus on the best, fun and happy things, and people want that. Being happy never goes out of style,” she said in 2004.
The 81-year old designer who made preppy tennis skirts the most coveted item for fashionable women died in Palm Beach, Florida, according to a post on the Lilly Pulitzer page. “Lilly has been a true inspiration to us and we will miss her,” the post reads, adding, “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.”
Pulitzer did not set out to become a designer. Those stylish and “oh so fabulous” shifts were the product of juice stains. According to PEOPLE magazine, Pulitzer picked up a juicing hobby after landing in a mental hospital for six months. “I went crazy,” the beloved designer told PEOPLE in 1982. “I was a namby-pamby; people always made decisions for me. The doctor said I should find something to do.” The juicing led to juice stains, which in turn led to Pulitzer designing a shift dress to match the stains – a true fashionista, indeed.
That “flamboyant orange-yellow-and-green print shift” featuring a “slit on both sides” received many compliments and an idea for her first fashion line, which launched in 1959 with 20 dresses (in her iconic green and pink florals and red and blue print designs) at her juicing stand. “They took off like zingo,” she told PEOPLE. “Everybody loved them, and I went into the dress business.”
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