Tuesday Trivia Tie-in #19 In the Jungle

Welcome to Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where I invite and encourage everyone to join, with a post about something they find interesting.



This week I will also be joining Linda at Coastal Charm, for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, as well as the monthly edition of Color Carnival.
Please take a minute to check out these two fun parties.

My Tuesday Trivia Tie-in posts are usually about one of the ties in my collection, but yours can be about anything! I only ask that you include some little known information that relates to your topic.

My tie this week came from a local thrift store. I paid a whopping $1.50 for it.
I'm really not sure what to call it, but when I saw it I thought: Summer... lemonade... sunshine... It wasn't until I looked closer that I realized that the designs were all cats.

This tie was created by Key West Hand Print Fabrics, a small company that was started in 1961 in a tobacco shed in Florida. Originally they were making placemats for tourists, but they grew gradually to a fabric and resortwear provider.

A big break for Key West Hand Print Fabrics came about because Peter Pulitzer, grandson of the famous publisher Joseph Pulitzer (for whom the Pulitzer Prize is named) eloped, with Lilly McKim, the daughter of the heir to the Standard Oil fortune.

Peter bought some citrus groves in Florida, and Lilly, operated a juice stand.
Because her dress was constantly being spattered with juice, Lily asked her dressmaker to make her a dress that would hide the spatters. A bright busy fabric did the trick, and Lily started selling juice in a colorful dress.

It wasn't long before she realized that more people were interested in her dress than in her juice, and she commissioned her dressmaker to make more so that she could sell them.

Once Jackie Kennedy started wearing the designs, they quickly became a fashion sensation, and throughout the 60's and 70's Lilly Pulitzer designs were the symbol for the rich at play.

Designer stores sprang up in the most affluent resort towns. where the rich partied, and the designs soon became the banner for the resort lifestyle.

How is this relevant you ask?

Well, here is the "rest of the story".

The bright and colorful fabrics for her designs were produced by Key West Hand Print Fabrics. The head designer for almost 25 years at Key West Hand Print Fabrics was Suzie Zuzek. Suzie designed most of the Lilly Pulitzer fabrics Key West produced. She drew the designs, and one of the owners, Peter Pell, did the coloration.

So, my little tie, by association, if nothing else, represents a bit of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" from (and I just learned this new buzzword) Mid-century.

Diann thinks it looks like something a used car salesman would wear. Personally, I like to think it is something Jimmy Buffet may wear, (On the way home from margaritaville of course).


Either way, when Bingo saw it, she immediately started singing "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight".



OK, now it's your turn. Enter your link below. Make sure you link to your post and not your main blog.



Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here