Lilly Pulitzer herself had a textbook background: Chapin, Miss Porter's, marriage to a publishing scion, and a youthful life of wealthy eccentricity (Pulitzer is famous for going without shoes and undies and for keeping a menagerie as a young wife.) Then came anxiety attacks, a stay in what she terms "the nuthouse" - “I can’t really remember how long I was there, but my cousin was there too, so that was nice” - and depression that led to the start of her "hobby," running a juice stand that called for a practical uniform of shift dresses that wouldn't show stains.

The rest is, of course, history: the gaily printed shifts became a sensation with the Palm Beach society set, former classmate Jackie Kennedy wore one in a magazine spread, and Lilly Pulitzer became a household name, selling not just pink and green dresses, but embroidered trousers and capris, sarongs, and all manner of sportswear. Pulitzer is often credited with creating the concept of "resort" - or, as she blithely put it, "it’s always summer somewhere.” Although she closed up shop in the businesslike 80s, she sold the brand in 1993 and has continued as a creative consultant in its new incarnation. The line currently has 20 boutiques, plus department store collections. According to today's WWD, "brand extension is a significant part of the growth strategy for Lilly Pulitzer as it begins its second half-century."

Of course, was Lilly Pulitzer really ever anything but a lifestyle brand? Did people ever really love wearing luridly-colored monkeys and sea-horses? Yes, the prints were cheerful, but when you see a Lilly Pulitzer, you think "Lilly Pulitzer" and that has surely always been the point. To wear one of her dresses was to momentarily be a part of a world where sporting goofy, unflattering clothes is a mark of dashing, privilege-bred confidence, the very definition of the uniform of an insider. Its appeal now is nostalgic. As W puts it, "the Palm Beach social swirl that Rousseau recalls—in which counts sat next to carpenters at her dinner parties and, as she relishes telling, Kennedy spoon-fed John-John on her kitchen floor—has an almost mythic quality, one she laments no longer exists." But to most of us, the nostalgic appeal is at least as much for a character like Pulitzer's as for anachronistic high society. She was, of course, inseparable from that privilege, and hers was a success inexplicably linked with her connections, friends, and lifestyle. But the old-fashioned no-nonsense sense of entitlement is also what allowed Pulitzer to build a successful business in a man's world, divorce her husband and move out on her own, where many women would have been happy to leave dresses as a pleasant sideline to a socialite's life. She took her lifestyle and made it a business. Everything about her story — from the world that inspired it, to the entitlement that encouraged it, to the scope of the achievement — is part of a long-gone world. This, as much as the unapologetic silliness of the clothes themselves, is a fascinating glimpse to another time for the rest of us.

Lilly Land [W]
All the Details: The Lilly Lifestyle [WWD]

Anecdotally speaking, even as the numbers of women in law and medical school have begun to match and even exceed the number of men, women continue to comprise less than a third of business school students. To a degree, this is because business school applicants are expected to have at least 5 years of work experience before taking on two years of additional (and expensive) schooling. What that means in a practical sense is that just as women graduates are finishing the "average" track, they're about to enter their thirties (and their prime years for marriage and child-bearing, if those are alternate goals) at the start of a new stage of their career or a new career entirely.

In addition, most business careers are extremely demanding and younger workers are expected to work 60-80 hour weeks, at least, making little time for much else. As Business Week explains, a recent study showed that 30 percent of female Harvard undergrads that went on to get MBAs were stay-at-home mothers fifteen years later, compared to 6 percent of doctors and 30 percent of lawyers. Part of the problem for women in business is the lack of flex-time or part-time options, which doctors are much more likely to take advantage of. In addition, evidence suggests that businessmen with stay-at-home wives earn an average of 30 percent more than their counterparts with working wives — and businesswoman are reportedly more likely to marry businessmen.

But, as many businesses are finding out, a diversity of perspectives and experiences is actually beneficial to the bottom line (not that you'll convince the MBA programs of that any time soon). Hopefully, as the upper ranks of the business world continue to bleed women and men who choose to try to find some semblance of a work-life balance, the people who run these companies like meat grinders will begin to recognize that a person looking to escape the grind is just as important an asset as those who stick around to be ground down.

The Mommy M.B.A.: Schools Try to Attract More Women [Wall Street Journal]
MBA Moms Most Likely to Opt Out [Business Week]

Carly Fiorina [Wikipedia]