District Magazine November 2014 | Page 29

Op-Ed by Hayden of Haute Table An Ode to Lilly Pulitzer It is Lilly Pulitzer’s birthday this month. She died a few years ago yet her brand lives on every day through colorful prints and a loving staff. Lilly opened my eyes to the world of fantasy that I could live just by wearing bright colors. Her world, that started with a juice stand, and ended with her becoming a woman girls from all ages look up to, is awe inspiring. There is something about Lilly that really got me on a personal level, maybe it is because I am a Florida girl through and through or maybe I was looking for a colorful escape from my boring high school years, whatever it was I am so glad I became a “Lilly Lover” when I did. I remember my first Lilly. It was a pink polo shirt that my dad bought me in Winter Park, FL. I picked the pink because it had a green LP and I thought that was the preppiest color combination on Earth. From there my obsession with the brand only intensified. Since that fateful day I have purchased vintage Lilly, a prom dress, and I received a Lilly present in the mail a month or two a go from my amazing parents. My planner is even Lilly, and it is not because I am some preppy girl who just wears/uses Lilly because she is popular and expensive. It is because the woman behind the company inspires me. She was just some housewife in Palm Beach when she made a name for herself and she never gave up who she was. She led an incredibly colorful life, one that I try to emulate dail