Cooper Hewitt Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The prints that made the fashion brand

A LOOK INTO THE COLLECTION

When socialite-turned-designer Lilly Pulitzer’s simple shift dresses hit the fashion scene in the early 1960’s, their eye-catching, whimsical prints made them instantly recognizable. Yet few people know that most of those prints were designed by Key West artist Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek de Poo, American, 1920-2011).

Zuzek was a staff designer for Key West Hand Print Fabrics where Pulitzer sourced most of her fabrics --- and all of her prints---between 1962 and 1985, the period during which Pultizer owned and oversaw the company that bears her name. Zuzek’s prolific imagination fueled Pulitzer’s runaway success. The unexpected combination of classic sportswear styling with playful, eclectic patterns defined a uniquely American style, often spotted on fashion icons such as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Prints That Made the Fashion Brand is the first museum exhibition to reveal the nature and scope of Zuzek’s artistic contribution to the quintessential Pulitzer style. Included in the exhibition are more than 35 original

watercolor and gouache design drawings by Zuzek, alongside finished screen-printed textiles and some of the fashions that made them famous.

The works on view include ten drawings recently acquired for the museum’s collection through a gift from the Key West Hand Print Fabrics archive, now privately owned.

Zuzek’s designs showcase her creative treatment of subjects ranging from mythical creatures to cosmology to the flora and fauna of the Florida Keys. Her palette was typically naturalistic, employing both the brilliant hues of the tropical flowers and the subtle browns, ochres, and grays used in her renderings of animals. When used as fabrics for the Pulitzer collections, Zuzek’s designs were printed in the beyond-bright, vivid colors the brand is famous for. The exhibition demonstrates the process of translating an artist’s rendering to fabric, and ultimately fashion, through silkscreen printing.

LILLY PULITZER (1931-2013) American Fashion Designer

“BEING HAPPY NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE.” -LILLY PULITZER

HAND SCREEN PRINTING

Zuzek’s designs have a characteristically loose, spontaneous feeling, but retaining the quality of the artist’s hand though the printing process required a team of skilled workers. While the original drawing has the charm of a simple watercolor sketch, it is carefully designed to repeat both horizontally and vertically, and is non-directional, so garment pieces can be cut efficiently from the fabric minimizing waste. Each color in the design requires its own screen, so color separations are created.

Laying a sheet of polyester drafting film over the original artwork, a technician traces over all the parts of the design to be printed in a particular color. Each screen is sequentially placed over fabric, using “stops” along the sides of the table to ensure proper registration for one screen over the next. The printing ink is poured into the screen and forced through it by pulling across with a rubber blade or squeegee. The process is repeated for each color.

“ZUZEK’S DESIGNS HAVE A CHARACTERISTICALLY LOOSE, SPONTANEOUS FEELING, BUT RETAINING THE QUALITY OF THE ARTIST’S HAND THOUGH THE PRINTING PROCESS REQUIRED A TEAM OF SKILLED WORKERS.”

Designed by Kelly Sung (2021)

THE DESIGNER HERSELF SUZIE ZUZEK

Zuzek grew up on a farm near Buffalo, New York. After serving in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) during World War II, she attended Pratt Institute on the G.I. Bill. After graduating in 1949, she quickly found work in New York designing prints for both fashion and decorator fabrics, but marriage took her to Key West, Florida, in 1955. When former New Yorkers Jim Russell and Peter Pell opened their screen print factory there in 1961, she eagerly accepted a position as designer, working part-time while raising three daughters.

Over the next 23 years, Zuzek created over 1,550 designs for KWHPF most of which were used by Pulitzer’s women’s, men’s, children’s, and home furnishings lines. It was common then and remains so today for textile designers’contributions to fashion to remain anonymous.

“BUT THE ‘LILLY LOOK’ WAS SYNONYMOUS WITH WILD, WONDERFUL PRINTS, AND THOSE PRINTS WERE OVERWHELMINGLY THE PRODUCT OF ONE WOMAN’S BOUNDLESS IMAGINATION—SUZIE ZUZEK.”

“THIS EXHIBITION CELEBRATES HER ARTISTRY AND ENDURING IMPACT ON AMERICAN FASHION.”

Designed by Kelly Sung (2021) In collaboration with Cooper Hewitt

SUZIE ZUZEK DE POO (1920-2011) American Artist and Textile Designer

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2 East 91st Street, New York, NY www.cooperhewitt.org

Cooper Hewitt is the nation’s only museum dedicated to historic and contemporary design, with a collection of over 210,000 design objects spanning thirty centuries. Located in the landmark Andrew Carnegie mansion and boasting a beautiful public garden, Cooper Hewitt makes design come alive with unique temporary exhibitions and installation of the permanent collection.