Lilly Pulitzer

Just in time for summer, The Arbour is stocking up on our favorite brightly patterned accessories and gifts. Who better to provide these but Lilly Pulitzer??? As east coasters, Lilly was a mainstay in both my childhood in the 80s and Patti’s childhood in the 60s. For those west coast customers who may not have had the same experience, here is a little history of the fabulous Lilly Pulitzer.

A typical 20th century heiress, Lilly was born in New York to a mother who was an heir to the Standard Oil fortune. She went to all of the right schools, including Miss Porter’s School with the Bouvier sisters. (Sidenote: Jackie would later wear one of the classic shifts in a Life magazine photo shoot.) However, Lilly broke the mold when she eloped in 1950 with Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. They moved to Palm Beach, Florida as any heiress would do and had three children: Peter, Liza and Minnie.

Lilly’s husband, Peter owned several orange groves and with the produce, Lilly decided to open a juice stand in Palm Beach. She found though that all of the juice squeezing was ruining her clothes, so her solution to camouflage the stains was asking her dressmaker to make her a simple shift out of brightly colored patterned fabric. This dress later became the famous “Classic Shift Dress” in her collection.

Soon she was getting more orders for dresses than juice allowing her to shift her focus to fashion design, founding her label in 1959. Who would have thought orange juice would have opened that door? She continued work on her label until 1984 when she retired. In 1993 however, she allowed the line to have somewhat of a rebirth and serves as a creative consultant.

At The Arbour we always look forward to the summer when we can order the Lilly paper products, cocktail napkins and this summer we have a girls watch, a few melamine plates and my new favorite, the “Queen of Green” grocery bag. I’ve already gotten a compliment on it at QFC. Come in and get your Lilly fix while it lasts!

Jen

Thank you to Wikipedia for the help on Lilly's bio....

Industrial Chic at The Arbour

Here at The Arbour, we get very excited when we find a new source, especially one that is local.  Recently, Patti was at an antiques show on Whidbey Island and made friends with Brenda Wahl, alias Circle Creek Home, a purveyor of great vintage finds and handmade soaps, among many other things.  They discussed what else Brenda and her husband, John do and turns out they make tables from reclaimed wood.  At the time, we didn't need any tables, so Patti bought a few things for the shop and went on her merry way.

About a week ago, I sold Patti's most favorite table ever in The Arbour made by a French woman who incidentally moved back to France.  With the pressure on to replace it, Patti contacted Brenda and three days later we had not one, but two new tables!

The wood used to make these industrial farmhouse tables was reclaimed from a barn in Snohomish County, near Brenda and John's base of operation in Arlington.  One table is standard height with a great horizontal application of the wood on top.  The other is like a dream come true.  Counter-height at 36 inches high, the top is made up of three long planks and we had them add a shelf to the bottom.  Hello kitchen island or potting table???

We couldn't stop looking at it all day and it made redoing the window and changing the shop around on Saturday a truly joyful experience.  Thank you Brenda and John!

Jen

Feeling Inspired

Flamant's Spring 2010 Collection is up on their site and we are feeling inspired!  We are both lucky enough to have visited the store in Paris.  Chic doesn't even begin to describe how fabulous it is.  Follow this link to take a look:  Spring 2010 at Flamant.

A lot of people wonder what our personal style is like, and to be honest, this is definitely mine.  Clean, crisp, neutrals with an interesting mix of contemporary pieces.

Enjoy!

Jen

Welcome

Hello there!

I am so excited that we now have a way of keeping in touch with customers. It began with the email list and has now evolved into a blog. Who knows, an actual website might be next! Let's not jump the gun too soon though...it only took 13 years to get to this point.

Since joining the shop in January, I have realized that people really look to my mother, Patti, as a taste maker. This blog will be my attempt to convey her favorite new trends, websites, lines, shops and whatever else strikes her fancy. I may sneak in a few of my discoveries, as well. In addition, I will also work at keeping you all updated on new things in the store.

Thank you for being so patient as I have attempted to bring The Arbour into the 21st century.

It's never too late to teach an old dog (in this case, Patti) new tricks! Keep 'em coming...

Jen