Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau, noted fashion designer, passed away on Sunday at age 81.
According to a posting on the Lilly Pulitzer Facebook page, Pulitzer "passed away peacefully in Palm Beach, [Fla.] surrounded by family and loved ones."
The posted added, "Lilly has been a true inspiration to us and we will miss her. 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."
Pulitzer was born in Born Lillian McKim and attended the tony Miss Porter's school in Farmington, Conn., where she was a classmate of future first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. According to MyFox8, Kennedy, during her time as first lady, "was once photographed wearing one of Pulitzer's dresses - and made [Pulitzer] a star." Pulitzer wrote in her book "Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining, "that the dress "was made from kitchen curtain material - and people went crazy. They took off like zingo. Everybody loved them, and I went into the dress business."
Pulitzer married Peter Pulitzer, grandson of newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, and the couple moved to Palm Beach, Fla. Pulitzer had three children but eventually landed in a mental hospital in Westchester, N.Y. for six months. She explained to People Magazine in 1982 that "I went crazy. I was a namby-pamby; people always made decisions for me. The doctor said I should find something to do."
She eventually launched her first fashion line in 1959 after years of juicing citrus at the family groves and eventually landed in industry.
In 1969, she divorced Peter Pulitzer and married Cuban Lawyer Enrique Rousseau.
The designer famously stated back in 2004 that "Style isn't just about what you wear, it's about how you live."
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