Northeast Harbor is a village where tradition reigns. Here, families have been friends for generations – and if they haven’t, they’re regarded as newcomers, even if they started summering here in the ’60s. The “cottages,” which also make their way through the generations, are grand, but in an understated, old guard way. And when it comes to dressing, classic is always in fashion.

For many women in town – and a few daring men – that fashion can be summed up in two words: Lilly Pulitzer.

Pulitzer, the Palm Beach designer known for her bold, vibrant prints, made a national splash in the early 1960s when Jackie Kennedy wore one of her shifts in a Life Magazine spread. In the decade that followed, the casual-chic dresses became the “unofficial uniform of the affluent at play,” according to LillyPulitzer.com.

And that extended to the summer playground that is Northeast Harbor.

“All the women up here always used to wear Lillys,” said Lindsay Scott, who started coming to Northeast Harbor as a young girl. “When I would arrive, my grandmother would always have a Lilly dress waiting for me.”

Today, Lilly Pulitzer is as hot as ever, driven in part by the

resurgence of preppy styles. Her beach-friendly shifts and sporty golf gear – long a staple in resort towns along the Eastern Seaboard – have even made inroads in the Midwest. But in Northeast Harbor, where Pulitzer once had a boutique, the trend never went away.

“I got my first Lilly dress when I was 10,” Scott’s daughter Bettina, 18, said with a smile.

Like mother, like daughter – it’s all part of the Lilly legacy on Mount Desert Island. And the Scotts aren’t alone. Bettina’s friend Mimi Pitney (they go way back – their great-great grandmothers were friends) adores Lilly for tennis, dressing up, or just kicking around town.

“All the time – anytime,” said Pitney, a third-generation summer resident who knows her Lilly fashions will be perfect when she heads to school in Florida this fall.

Lilly got her start in Florida, after all.

But she didn’t set out to be a designer. She eloped with Peter Pulitzer, grandson of Joseph Pulitzer, who founded the Pulitzer Prize, and the young couple ran off to Palm Beach. They became an instant hit in the social scene.

“They were known for giving the best parties in town,” writes Jay Mulvaney in “Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining,” which he and Lilly released this spring. “Theirs was an affluent life, but it was famously unstuffy.”

But Lilly was famously bored. With a capital “B.” She needed more than parties. She needed a business. So, using produce from her husband’s citrus groves, she peddled oranges and fruit gift boxes, first from her station wagon and later from a tiny shop in town. She also started selling fresh-squeezed juices, but all those lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruits took their toll on her clothes.

“I used to have this wonderful old Swiss lady make shifts for me,” she says in “Essentially Lilly.” “I found this bright, bright fabric, the same colors as the fruit, so that the splashes and mess wouldn’t show.”

As it turns out, the dresses caused more of a sensation than her juices. And when Jackie Kennedy wore one of them, made from kitchen curtain material, the juice business came to an end.

“They took off like zingo,” Lilly says in the book. “Everybody loved them, and I went into the dress business.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. Pulitzer, who has since remarried and now goes by Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau, has refined her designs a bit, but the spirit remains: fun, casual clothing in whimsical, fruity, flowery prints. All with heavy doses of pink and green.

“Lilly colors are flattering to most people,” said Jennifer Richardson, who owns the Lilly-laden Romantic Room shops in Northeast Harbor. “They make people feel happy, and they flatter everyone’s coloring.”

Though most people who love the designer talk about her like they know her, Richardson actually does. And she said the designer’s bold, fun styles reflect her personality.

“She is just a kick in the pants,” Richardson said on a recent sunny afternoon, sitting on an Adirondack chair on a green that overlooks the village’s Main Street. “You can see where the spirit of her clothes comes from. … She doesn’t take things too seriously and she’s just so much fun.”

So are the stores that carry her wares. Names such as Pink Wasabi, The Snappy Turtle, The Pink Petunia, Tickled Pink, The Lazy Daisy and Barefoot Princess make it clear that Lilly is more of a lifestyle than just a line of clothing. But “Lilly girls” have known that for generations.

“She would have a very casual approach to dressing,” Richardson says of the quintessential Lilly girl. “She would love color. She probably would be a very outgoing person because Lilly makes you feel that way. She wouldn’t need a lot of accessories. She would rely on her own sense of being and she would rely on her own sense of self.”

Just like Richardson – who, dressed in a blue and yellow sheath, looks like she’s ready for cocktails at the country club or a casual poolside luncheon. Her only accessories are pearls and a few pieces of gold jewelry (there’s little need to gild the Lilly). The only thing that’s missing are her two yellow Labrador retrievers – the puppy, Oliver, and the big dog, who is named Lilly, of course. In the evenings, they walk down Main Street and window shop.

Of course, life isn’t all Lilly for Richardson. She carries a few other labels in her shop – including Govango, designed by Lilly’s goddaughter, Lilly van Gerbig, who will be on hand July 20 and 21 for a trunk show. The pieces feature vivid prints in lively shades of pink, coral and chartreuse, to name a few, with the same sense of mirth as Lilly Pulitzer’s clothing. What you won’t find at the Romantic Room is anything black or boring.

“All the colors – the colors just pull people in,” Richardson said.

And even if the preppy-casual trend falls out of fashion elsewhere, the bloom will never be off the Lilly in Northeast Harbor.

“I’ve always felt that the good things always come back,” Richardson said.

For information on the trunk show, call 276-4006 or visit www.TheRomanticRoom.com. For information about Lilly Pulitzer, visit www.LillyPulitzer.com or pick up “Essentially Lilly,” ($30, HarperCollins Publishers). Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.