Seeing Pink

Every year, hundreds of Lilly Pulitzer fans congregate in Palm Beach, Florida, to celebrate their muse and her inimitable fashion. MEG LUKENS NOONAN joined the party

Well, THAT WAS A CONGA LINE WAITING TO HAPPEN:

a happy hour cruise full of women wearing vivid Lilly Pulitzer print caftans and cover-ups; heavy pours of Chardonnay in plastic cups and "Hot, Hot, Hot" blaring from the speakers. Plus, it's the start of The Pink Retreat, an annual Palm Beach, Florida, getaway for devotees of all things Lilly. Of course these ladies were going to kick off their cork-soled wedges and go rum-bum-bum-bum.

As they shimmy and shuffle around the catamaran deck, they can be secure in the knowledge that their queen of pink and green, Lilly McKim Pulitzer Rousseau, would wholeheartedly approve. Lilly, by all accounts, lived with as much exuberance as the sunny, whimsical prints she was famous for. She was known to slosh water on her Palm Beach estate kitchen floor to slick it up for dancing; she loved to belt out show tunes in the wee hours (often accompanied by highsociety pianist and perennial houseguest Peter Duchin), and she adored theme parties-one invite instructed guests to dress as Esther Williams and plan on doing synchronized swimming routines in the pool.

"Mom was filled with laughter, filled with life," says Lilly's oldest daughter, Minnie Pulitzer, to a rapt Pink Retreat gathering the next morning. She is speaking at C. Orrico, a longtime Lilly retailer owned by three sisters whose mother was close with the designer. The two matriarchs often held court on a sofa just beyond the dress racks.

"It was a lovefest," Minnie says of growing up Pulitzer. "A colorful, bright, fun, wonderful, caring lovefest."

The women in the audience beam at each other with recognition.

"It's a Lilly thing," someone says. There are nods all around.