We Took a Tour of Palm Seaside With Lilly Pulitzer’s Artistic Director — Right here Are Her Favourite Spots

It’s a balmy Friday night time in Palm Seaside, and I’m eating at Le Bilboquet with Mira Fain, Lilly Pulitzer’s inventive director and government vice chairman of design. The French restaurant is simply steps from the flagship Lilly Pulitzer retailer on Value Avenue, and over a glass of wine, I ask for her suggestion. “It’s a must to attempt le poulet cajun. It’s certainly one of their greatest dishes,” Fain confides. She’s proper. The hen dish comes tender and juicy, complemented by a spicy crust and French fries. 

After transferring to South Florida in 2015, Fain is aware of her approach round Palm Seaside. The designer joined Lilly Pulitzer after stumbling on the model after a Google seek for “completely happy clothes” and has steered the corporate in design for 18 years. Since then, the model’s choices have swelled to incorporate all the pieces you want for a trip: swimsuits, sandals, coverups, and their signature punchy shift clothes. 

Forward of its sixty fifth anniversary, the model is leaning into the daring prints that made it a fixture in Florida whereas embracing earth-friendly initiatives like sustainable and recyclable materials. Throughout my go to, I toured the design studio and discovered that every print is hand-painted and the design group’s travels encourage the palm fronds, seashells, and tigers. Additionally, in case you look carefully, you’ll see the designer’s identify hidden in every print — a wink to the founder’s whimsical nature. 

The Lilly Pulitzer model has advanced over time, as has Palm Seaside, by including new eating places and updating the island’s celebrated motels. As resort season kicks off, Fain shares her favourite locations across the island which you could uncover (or rediscover) in your subsequent go to. 

The place to Keep

The Brazilian Court docket Lodge

Framed by hedges on an unassuming road, the almost century-old resort is a favourite of Palm Seaside regulars. E book a keep in one of many 80 classically styled guestrooms or cease on the resort restaurant, Cafe Boulud, for a flower martini, a favourite of Fain’s. The resort can be a favourite amongst Lilly Pulitzer employees — it’s simply blocks from the model’s design studio and steps from the eating and buying on Value Avenue. 

The Breakers Palm Seaside

The Breakers Palm Seaside stretches alongside 140 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Italian Renaissance-style resort has been in enterprise for over a century. The five hundred-room resort was the creation of enterprise tycoon Henry Flagler, who wished a glamorous getaway for America’s excessive society, and it stays certainly one of Palm Seaside’s crown jewels. “Lilly was a frequent visor at The Breakers, and we hosted our fiftieth model anniversary occasion right here, dressing the outside fountains in pink,” Fain tells me. Vacationers can splurge on an in a single day keep or go for the resort’s well-known Sunday brunch at The Circle, the Florentine-inspired restaurant, the place dishes vary from Belgian waffles to sushi and child lamb chops. 

The Colony Lodge

If The Breakers represents Palm Seaside’s opulence, The Colony Lodge symbolizes the island’s playful, quirky aspect. Positioned simply off Value Avenue, the boutique resort opened in 1947, and just lately redesigned visitor rooms function ‘Palm Seaside stylish’ pastel partitions, wicker furnishings, and tropical textiles. E book an evening within the newly opened Goop Suite, a collaboration with Gwyneth Paltrow’s way of life model, which includes a hand-painted rest room by certainly one of Lilly Pulitzer’s designers. The resort’s restaurant has a captivating poolside restaurant and a seashore butler who escorts company to the seashore and units up seashore chairs and pink-fringed umbrellas. 

The place to Store

Value Avenue

Although the Lilly Pulitzer retailer is now housed in a extra distinguished location, the model began on Value Avenue in a tiny retailer the place the dressmaker would select materials for patrons on the spot. Solely 4 blocks lengthy, the stylish thoroughfare is lined with designer boutiques like Chanel, Gucci, and Bottega Veneta. Put aside a day to wander via the vias that result in quiet courtyards and charming outlets and seize a cup of limoncello gelato at Piccolo Gelato. Fain typically strolls the avenue, dipping into Tory Burch and Saks, the place she will get inspo from the Badgley Mischka and Pucci. One other favourite of the designer is the approach to life retailer Hive as a result of the model “embodies the Lilly ethos of resort residing as a lifestyle.” 

The Royal Poinciana Plaza

First constructed within the late Nineteen Fifties and revitalized in 2020, The Royal Poinciana Plaza options a mixture of high-end retail shops like Hermes and Saint Laurent alongside specialty shops like Assouline, which produces the favored “Palm Seaside” espresso desk guide strategically positioned in native motels and cafes. In the event you’re selecting up just a few items for tweens or teenagers, make sure to cease by the preppy equipment retailer Stoney Clover Lane, which was based by two Palm Seaside sisters. Fains says she likes to swing by right here and seize a cold-pressed juice from Celis Juice Bar or cease by Sant Ambroeus for a feta and watermelon salad with truffle fries, following Lilly Pulitzer’s sage recommendation to “all the time get the fries.” 

The place to Eat 

Surfside Diner

Palm Seaside’s restaurant scene is an eclectic combine that locals and guests have come to cherish. Surfside Diner is an unfussy diner that locals flock to, serving homestyle American breakfast and lunch plates. Fain’s typical is a toasted muffin and a latte or slice of coconut cake for a sugar repair. 

Cafe By way of Flora

Tucked away in a sunny courtyard on Value Avenue, Cafe By way of Flora is an Italian restaurant with a full menu of seafood and pasta that’s excellent for lengthy lunches. The gazpacho is extremely refreshing, and the pan-seared snapper al limone is sourced from Key West. Fain loves it right here as a result of it’s proper behind the Lilly retailer, the place she will “sit and watch prospects come and go.” 

iMOTO

Seafood is a South Florida specialty, and for “the most effective sushi on the island,” Fain says she heads to iMOTO. James Beard award-winning chef James Conley helms the restaurant, and together with sushi, there are small, flavorful plates like Kung Pao cauliflower bites and Peking duck tacos. 

Renato’s

Nestled on By way of Mizner on Value Avenue, Renato’s has been round since 1987, and its location subsequent door to Pulitzer’s unique store earned the restaurant a spot on the designer’s favorites. Fain is a fan, too — the restaurant has conventional Italian fare (the do-it-yourself saffron tagliolini is a crowd-pleaser), and tables spill out onto sidewalks framed with bougainvillea. Renato’s is a quiet, romantic restaurant, and an evening right here would possibly make you fall in love with Palm Seaside.