Lilly Pulitzer opening first West Coast location at Fashion Island
Designer resort-wear brand expected to open early 2019
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (July 10, 2018) — Lilly Pulitzer, the iconic American resort wear brand, today announced it will embark on a West Coast brand expansion with a new store set to arrive in sunny Newport Beach, California at Fashion Island, Orange County’s premier coastal, open-air lifestyle center. Known for its brightly printed, chic resort and beachwear, Lilly Pulitzer will join a host of world-class brands and boutiques when it arrives in early 2019.
“At Lilly Pulitzer we design for a ‘Resort 365’ life and southern California certainly embraces that aesthetic and attitude, particularly at Fashion Island” said Michelle Kelly, CEO of Lilly Pulitzer. “We look forward to introducing the brand to the area and catching up with Lilly lovers who will now have the experience of a Lilly Pulitzer retail store near to them.”
“Lilly Pulitzer is the epitome of sophisticated, yet relaxed, resort-style wear that reflects the lifestyle found along the Orange County coast,” said Heather Nykolaychuk, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Irvine Company Retail Properties. “We know the brand’s vibrant hues, effortless and elevated styles will be a welcome addition to Fashion Island—complementing our mix of brands and creating another exciting exclusive shopping experience for our guests.”
The Fashion Island location will be the first retail store opening of 2019 for Lilly Pulitzer and will carry resort wear for women and girls, as well as limited edition multi-generational capsule collections for the entire family throughout the year. Shoppers can look forward to resort wear categories like swim & cover-ups, dresses, sports wear, athleisure, accessories, jewelry, and so much more.
ABOUT FASHION ISLAND
As Orange County’s premier coastal shopping experience, Fashion Island features exclusive specialty boutiques, world-class department stores and a diverse assortment of restaurants and cafes. With nearly 15 million visitors a year, Fashion Island offers a sophisticated yet relaxed, resort-like atmosphere that is distinctively Southern California, with pristine views of the Pacific Ocean.
Owned by Irvine Company, Fashion Island is home to Orange County’s only Neiman Marcus, as well as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Bloomingdale’s Home Store and Macy’s – in addition to St. John, Zadig & Voltaire, Alice + Olivia, Rodd & Gunn, Nespresso, Urban Decay, SoulCycle, Vince, Joie, SUITSUPPLY, ViX by Paula Hermanny and THE LOT. Fashion Island also features acclaimed restaurants such as Sushi Roku, FIG & OLIVE, Red O, CUCINA enoteca, Hopdoddy Burger Bar, Lemonade, True Food Kitchen and R+D Kitchen. For more information, please visit ShopFashionIsland.com or follow @fashionisland on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
ABOUT LILLY PULITZER
Lilly Pulitzer speaks to generations of rule-breaking, sun-followers who celebrate the spontaneous bohemian spirit of Lilly Pulitzer. The company’s effortless fashions are truly born from an original. It all happened by accident, when in 1959-ish Lilly (McKim) Pulitzer—a stylish Palm Beach hostess and socialite whose husband Peter Pulitzer owned several Florida citrus groves—needed a project of her own. With Peter’s produce, she opened a juice stand on Via Mizner, just off Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. Lilly Pulitzer’s business was a hit, but squeezing oranges, lemons, limes, and pink grapefruit made a mess of her clothes. Realizing that she needed a juice stand uniform, Lilly asked her dressmaker to design a dress that would camouflage the stains. The result? A comfortable sleeveless shift dress made of bright, colorful printed cotton in pink, green, yellow and orange. Although her customers liked Lilly’s juice, they loved her shift dresses. Soon Lilly was selling more shift dresses than juice, so she decided to stop squeezing and focus on designing and selling her “Lillys.” Lilly Pulitzer became a fashion sensation and a creator of authentic American resort wear as we know it. The brand is now more popular than ever and continues to create authentic printed styles straight from the in-house print design studio. For more brand history and juicy stories, head to lillypulitzer.com.