The fashion world is mourning Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau, the trend-setting designer known for her signature shift dresses in brightly colored prints. Rousseau, 81, died in her Palm Beach, Florida home Sunday morning. She was surrounded by her loved ones.
"Lilly has been a true inspiration to us and we will miss her," says a post on the Lilly Pulitzer Facebook page. "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."
Rousseau broke into the fashion business by accident in the late 50s. While married to Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of press mogul Joseph Pulitzer, in 1957, she landed in a mental hospital. Doctors advised her to find an activity to keep her busy, so she began selling fruit juice made from Pulitzer’s fruit groves. When squeezing fruit led to stained clothes she designed a simple cotton shift made from brightly colored fabric that would not show the stains. She received so many compliments that she had dresses made to sell alongside her juices.
"They took off like zingo," she previously said. "Everybody loved them, and I went into the dress business."
The business took off quickly and soon the likes of Jackie Kennedy and Dina Merrill were spotted wearing Lilly Pulitzer dresses. Lilly shut down the line in 1984. She sold the brand rights to Sugartown Worldwide in 1993 and the company re-launched the line.
Lilly divorced Peter Pulitzer in 1969 and married Cuban lawyer Enrique Rousseau. They remained married until his death from cancer in 1993. She is survived by her three children with Pulitzer.
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