Fashion and Beauty

A visit with the legendary Lilly Pulitzer

March 23, 2011 | 12:00am

Manhattan socialite Lilly Pulitzer of the famed Pulitzer Prize family started the trend of the very colorful, classic shift dress that created fans including Jackie Kennedy and a horde of international best-dressed ladies in the ’60s. It was very “in” to wear a Lilly to most daytime events, and fashion magazines always featured top socialites wearing her designs.

In fact, even famous fashion designers such as Kate Spade, Diane Von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera and look up to Lilly and get inspiration from her.

According to Spade, Lilly Pulitzer was one of the first to take a personal look and lifestyle and turn it into a brand. “Her cheery and colorful prints are much imitated but she is a true original,” Spade adds.

“Lilly Pulitzer…Palm Beach at its best! A timeless American style,” enthuses Diane Von Furstenberg.

Lilly Pulitzer is flanked by Reggie Aguinaldo and her husband Stephen Young during their visit to the “Pink Palace” corporate headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida.

Lilly, Vera Wang says, understood her client and her lifestyle because she was an inherent part of that world. “Her enduring love for Palm Beach and that society celebrated casual dressing and brought resort clothing to ‘all’ of America,” says Wang.

Carolina Herrera has this to say: “Lilly Pulitzer had a fantastic idea to do her collection in all floral cottons, which became timeless and classic for classic for the summer.”

In late 2010, Reggie Aguinaldo was among the select partner accounts invited by Lilly Pulitzer’s sales team to travel to Palm Beach, Florida for their spring 2011 presentation.

Entering the Palm Beach office/showroom the attendees were welcomed with picture panels of Lilly Pulitzer’s world and a true rainbow of colors. As they went through the main day’s agenda they were informed that Lilly Pulitzer herself was coming to join the group lunch. Everyone clapped with glee as the designer entered the presentation room. Dressed in pastel colors in her true Palm Beach casual lifestyle, and now in her spry 80s, Lilly charmed everyone with her easy going banter and wide-eye spirit. With a strong voice and candid wit, the legendary American design icon thrilled everyone who met her.

Make that shift: Adelson shift dress with corded embroidery by Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly expressed that while she had never had the pleasure of visiting Manila, she was happy that her branded collections could now be found exclusively at Rustan’s. Reggie told her it took a few years before Rustan’s got the approval to bring in the Lilly Pulitzer brand into the Philippines. Lilly quickly replied, “That’s only because we want to make sure we are with the best stores!”

As Reggie reminisced, “Having experienced Palm Beach first hand, I feel that Lilly Pulitzer is more than ever an ideal fit for Manila’s lifestyle. There are so many parallels between Manila and Palm Beach. In the weather alone it is always tropical. In the social scene and lifestyle, the Lilly girl or lady is someone who has a life that is filled with activity. She is strongly independent but family is very important to her and she maintains a balance. She flits from home life, to her work, social causes and to unwinding often with family and friends. The current collections are deeply rooted in Lilly Pulitzer’s original dresses and her prints while also expanding new designs in other product offerings — from dresses, sportswear, shoes, bags, jewelry, gifts and there’s more to come!

In the “Pink Palace,” the name fondly given to their corporate headquarters, there is a dedicated in-house print studio with a team that manually designs all its exclusive signature prints. To recognize that you have an authentic Lilly Pulitzer printed dress or garment the name “LILLY” has to be incorporated into the design print. Lilly says finding it is the “most fun!”