What was the inspiration for Lilly Pulitzers colorful printed dresses?
Bored Palm Beach socialite Lilly Pulitzer opened a juice stand in 1959 to pass the time, but she found one drawback: The citrus concoctions discolored her clothes. She instructed her dressmaker to create a uniform that would camouflage the bright stains, and the “Lilly” design — sleeveless cotton shifts in vibrant prints — was born. The style was an instant hit with customers, who soon began placing more orders for dresses than juice. How did pumps, stilettos, and sneakers get their names? The term pump first popped up in 1550 in England, where male servants sported the style. It is said that the noise they made while wearing the loose-fitting shoes resembled the sound of a water pump. The word sneaker entered the language in the 1870s; the rubber soles made the shoes quiet and therefore “sneaky.” The modern usage of stiletto, a Renaissance-era Italian word for an assassin’s narrow-bladed knife, made its debut in 1953. The word turned out to be especially appropriate, because the sho
