The Perfect White Blouse

We're not exactly Lilly Pulitzer type girls--or so we thought. Her bright colored prints are a little too preppy and seem more appropriate for a kindergartner more than anyone past the legal drinking age. Then, a few weeks back, WWD ran a story on this queen of resort wear. The title, "It's Always Summer Somewhere" was enough to catch our eye, and the story was so riveting we read it word for word. We love that Lilly got her start selling oranges as a bored housewife, married to Mr. Peter Pulitzer (he of the newspaper prizes). Her clothes got stained with the juice of the oranges, so she designed her colorful shifts. She had it made when the first lady, a Ms. Jaqueline Kennedy, wore one of her shifts in Life magazine. (We're sure Isabel Toledo can relate.) What cemented our appreciation of Ms. Pulitzer is, as Sarah Haight writes in the story, "She considers underwear as much as a nuisance as shoes and lined her Lilly shifts with muslin to encourage women to go au natural." Maybe we are Lilly girls, after all.

When we were in Florida last week, we dragged our friend S. into the Lilly store so we could check out the goods in person. What we found? A gold puffer vest on sale (alas, not in our size). Lined in hot pink, it was definitely more Missy Elliot than Buffy. We also spotted several white blouses that we would like to own, including the Corbett shirt.



The accessories also caught our eye, like this sparkly cuff, designed from vintage Lilly lace.



A hot pink clutch that makes us wish it were summer:



And sandals that are anything but a nuisance.


We encourage you to give Lilly a second look, too!