Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly Pulitzer brings its signature explosion of color to Grand Boulevard, the open-air shopping and dining district that sits just steps from Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Miramar Beach. Shoppers walk into a boutique full of the label’s trademark prints, from hibiscus blooms to citrus slices to tropical menagerie patterns splashed across dresses, resortwear, swimwear, and accessories built for life on the Emerald Coast. The store fits naturally into a beach vacation itinerary, since the brand’s entire design philosophy grew out of Florida sun and color in the first place.

That philosophy traces back to Lillian Lee McKim Pulitzer, known to everyone as Lilly, who launched the label in 1959. The origin story is famously practical rather than glamorous. Pulitzer ran a fruit juice stand in Palm Beach in 1958, and the citrus stains on her clothes became such a problem that she asked her dressmaker to create simple shift dresses printed in bold patterns that could hide the mess. Customers who came for orange juice started asking about the dress instead, and Pulitzer eventually stopped selling juice altogether so she could focus on selling clothes.

The brand’s rise to national fame came a few years later, when Jacqueline Kennedy, a friend of Pulitzer’s, began wearing the printed shift dresses. Kennedy’s appearance in a Lilly Pulitzer dress on the cover of Life magazine in 1962 introduced the label to a much wider audience and cemented its place as an emblem of sunny, preppy Palm Beach style. That heritage still defines the look today, more than sixty years and countless print collections later.

Oxford Industries acquired the revived Lilly Pulitzer brand in 2010 and now operates more than sixty company-owned stores across the country from its headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Despite that corporate scale, the Grand Boulevard location, found in Building 440, Suite S104 at 495 Grand Boulevard, still delivers the personal, resort-shop feel the brand built its name on. As the store describes itself, “Lilly Pulitzer is a lifestyle. A frame of mind, where the door’s always open and the clothing’s always designed sunny side up.” Staff help visitors build a beach vacation wardrobe from scratch or track down a specific print for a family reunion, wedding, or golf outing at nearby Sandestin.

Visitors can reach the boutique at 850-650-2011 to check current stock or ask about upcoming trunk shows, and the shop keeps generous hours for vacationers, open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Because Grand Boulevard is a genuine mixed-use lifestyle center, with more than 765,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, office, and hotel space just steps from Sandestin’s resort gates, a stop at Lilly Pulitzer pairs naturally with an afternoon of browsing nearby boutiques and a dinner reservation. The full catalog is also available at lillypulitzer.com for anyone who wants to preview the newest prints before arriving.

For Emerald Coast travelers, the appeal is straightforward. This is resortwear designed specifically for the kind of bright, beachy setting that Sandestin and Miramar Beach provide. A sundress bought here does not feel out of place on a boat, at a beach club lunch, or walking the boardwalk at the Village of Baytowne Wharf. Pair a Lilly Pulitzer piece with the destination it was practically invented for, and the vacation photos take care of themselves. Even shoppers who only stop in for a quick browse tend to leave with at least one small print worth packing for the rest of the trip, whether a scarf, a tote, or a pair of sandals to match the dress.