By Sharon Feiereisen

With Summer approaching and women beginning to shed black, for more bold, colorful clothing, the timing couldn’t be any better for Lilly Pulitzer’s (http://www.lillypulitzer.com/) first Manhattan store. Pulitzer, who was born to a socialite family in Roslyn, New York in 1931, can trace her fashion roots back to when she eloped, in 1950, with Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The couple who made their home in Palm Beach let a bohemian lifestyle (entertaining in the kitchen, walking barefoot down Worth Avenue – scandalous in those days!), and these influences are clear in almost every piece of clothing that bears the Lilly Pulitzer name.

Peter owned Florida citrus groves, and with produce from the groves Lilly opened a juice stand during which she inevitably dirtied her clothes. In a smart move, Lilly asked her dressmaker to design a sleeveless shift dress made of bright, colorful printed cotton to blend in with the juice stains. The resulting dress became her “Classic Shift Dress.”