Lilly Pulitzer’s “Pink Palace” Headquarters is Perfect... Except For the Fat-Shaming Thing
New York magazine recently visited Lilly Pulitzer’s headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania to document the company’s legendary “Pink Palace,” as the building is known. The brand is named for Pulitzer the woman, who rose to fame in the 1960s after Jackie Kennedy wore one of her bright dresses in a Life magazine spread (the two had been classmates at the Chapin School in New York). Like everything Jackie wore, women quickly rushed out to buy the printed, vacation-ready shifts. Her floral prints became the must-have look for upper-class women, both young and old, and remain the summer look of choice for women of a certain bloodline.
The heritage brand rarely makes news, but set off a firestorm of headlines earlier this year thanks to a sold out collection for Target. And again, today, thanks to the story on NY Mag. The portfolio is exactly the kind of saccharine overdrive you’d expect from the purveyor of iconic prints—lots of pretty young women in wildly printed dresses, inspiration boards covered in colorful photographs, and even a really cute baby! But amidst the 27 vibrant images, one stood out the most from the rest. The tenth slide is a photograph of one employee’s cubicle, and it’s plastered with illustrations of fat women with words like “Just another day of FAT, WHITE & HIDEOUS, you should probably just kill yourself” written below the sketch.
When reached for comment, Jane Schoenborn, Vice President of Creative Communications at Lilly Pulitzer said, “These illustrations were the work of one individual and were posted in her personal work area. While we are an employer that does encourage people to decorate their own space, we are a female-dominated company and these images do not reflect our values. We apologize for any harm this may have caused.” Meanwhile, on social media, everyone is making sure their thoughts are heard loud and clear.
Damn @LilyPulitzer, this is hateful. Beauty starts with health, not food guilt. http://t.co/F5FUDlG6do via @thecut
— Isis V (@keepisisweird) May 26, 2015
Whoever this Lily Pulitzer employee is, she obviously needs to learn to love herself http://t.co/G5EocurMam
— Yasmin (@yasmin86) May 26, 2015
The editors at The Cut first presented the slide without comment. Then they added one line: “(This image shows an employee’s personal illustrations at her cubicle.)” And the next slide is an image of an over-the-top decadent spread of cupcakes and macaroons, fit for Marie-Antoinette. But who could look twice—let alone take a bite—when the next cube over features a graphic illustration of “carb-face?”
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