Lilly Pulitzer, the lifestyle brand that embodies the carefree spirit of summer vacation, is encouraging fans to Wear Your Lilly on Saturday June 21, the official first day of summer.
To celebrate, we’re showcasing some of the beautiful Lilly Pulitzer home fabrics that launched for Lee Jofa in 2010. Devotees of Lilly Pulitzer will recognize many of the brand’s iconic prints in signature pink and green, with floral and beach motifs, embroideries and jacquards, fresh stripes, and bold solids to coordinate.
Love Lilly? Post your own images on social media, and be sure to use #summerinlilly. Cheers to summer!
Over the weekend many of us heard the sad news that, at the age of 81, Lilly Pulitzer passed away. There are many ways a fashion designer can, in theory, leave a legacy, and I’m at a loss for words in this case. Did she define a style for a generation? For jet-setting elites? For a region? In the case of Lilly Pulitzer, it was so much more than that.
Her iconic prints span multiple generations, and will for many more to come. Lilly’s tropical designs defy not only age but social strata, and can be found all over the world, in climates warm and cold, injecting a dose of cheerfulness and whimsy into any locale.
These days, many designers aspire to create a “lifestyle” brand, a point of view that’s narrow enough to be easily identified, yet broad enough to apply across multiple consumer categories. Lilly was the very embodiment of a lifestyle brand long before it became a marketing buzzword.
If you know the story of Lilly Pulitzer, then you know she ran a juice stand in Palm Beach, and designed a few lively print dresses simply as a way to hide the juice stains that were a daily occupational hazard. Soon, customers were more interested in her dresses than her juice and the rest is history.
Today, her simple shift dress has come to represent so much more, and we remember Lilly Pulitzer for all she has contributed to making the world a happier, more colorful place.
A recent photo of Lilly Pulitzer, pictured with Kravet sales representative Chris Zitelli.
Around this time last year, I wrote about the history of linen, and I received many emails asking how the flax plant is actually made into fabric. Because of your interest and questions, I have decided to follow up with more information about linen. In addition to the information provided below, please take a look at the accompanying video, which provides more in-depth visual information about the process.
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, “Linum usitatissimum,” which is the Latin botanical name of the plant. Flax blooms in groups of bluish, navy blue, and occasionally in violet, rosy and white flowers. Each flower blooms for only a few hours. It opens up at dawn and closes and falls off at around noon when the heat sets in. The flax plant is not difficult to grow but it flourishes best in cool, humid climates and within moist, well plowed soil. Flax can only be grown on the same field twice before signs of “flax fatigue” begin to show. It will be another seven years before flax can be cultivated again on the same field.
The quality of the finished linen product is dependent on the growing conditions and harvesting techniques. Linen yarn is spun from the long fibers behind the bark of the plant stem. These fibers vary in length from 2 to 36 inches. The process of separating the flax fibers from the plant is a labor intensive and painstaking process. In order to retrieve the fibers from the plant, the woody stem and the pectin, or gum, which bonds the fibers together in a clump must be rotted away. To produce the longest possible fibers, flax is either hand-harvested by pulling up the entire plant or stalks are cut very close to the root.
After harvesting, the seeds are removed through a mechanized process called “rippling.” The fibers must then be loosened from the stalk. This is achieved through retting. This process uses bacteria to decompose the pectin that binds the fibers together. Natural retting methods take place in tanks and pools or directly in the fields. There are chemical retting methods that are faster but more harmful to the environment and to the fibers themselves. After retting, the stalks are ready for scutching. This process removes the woody portion of the stalks by crushing them between two metal rollers, so the different parts of the stalk can be separated. The fibers are set aside for other uses.
The short fibers are then separated by hackling or combing them away to leave behind the long, soft flax fibers. After the fibers have been separated and processed, they are typically spun into yarns and woven or knit into textiles. Linen’s natural off white color ranges between shades of ivory, ecru, tan and grey. Pure white linen is created by heavy bleaching.
It amazes me that thousands of years ago someone had the idea to take something from nature’s beauty growing in the fields, break it down and then weave it into one of the most luxurious fabrics that to this day remains in demand for homes all over the world.
Alice Guercio, Vice President of Product Coordination and a Kravet veteran for more than 15 years, travels the world to source and develop new product for Kravet. She is one of our top experts on textiles. If you have a question about fabric for Alice, email her at [email protected] and your question may become the subject of a future article.
*This article is modified from the original, which originally appeared in the summer 2011 issue of inspired.news.
The bright colorful patterns of the Lilly Pulitzer collection immediately transport us to the sunny shores of Palm Beach. These iconic prints and embroideries have inspired generations of loyal aficionados.
The Lilly look is easily recognizable, but did you know there is a simple way to test the authenticity of a true Lilly Pulitzer fabric? The name “Lilly” is built into the design of each pattern. This is true both for the clothing patterns and the fabric available to interior designers exclusively through Lee Jofa.
We’ve made it easy to spot the Lilly in each print, take a look!
It has been the Summer of Lilly. We launched the collection in May during Blogfest 2011, and it’s been a whirlwind of pink and green ever since.
Just when the crisp fall breeze began to blow the summer heat away, we got word that Lilly Pulitzer herself made a recent appearance in Palm Beach and took a shine to our (her) home fabrics.
Zitelli with Lilly Pulitzer
C.Orrico, a Lilly Pulitzer signature shop in Palm Beach, invited Lee Jofa representative Chris Zitelli to show the fabric line to Lilly, who quickly selected her favorites.
In a Twist 2011114-13 (left) and Heritage Floral 2011106-573 (right)
“In a Twist” and “Heritage Floral” were chosen as favorites, and Lilly remarked at how beautifully the color absorbed into the linen solids. As if that wasn’t enough to swell our hearts with pride, she loved the marketing materials, including the brochure and the national ad featuring the Lilly room setting.
It is truly an honor to carry on the Lilly Pulitzer legacy. We hope she chooses some of these fabrics for her own home, and we hope you do too!
