During the 2023-2024 season, the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum presented its first-ever Grand Exhibition. Endless Summer explores the impact Palm Beach made on resort fashion over the last 129 years, as it solidified itself as one of America’s premier luxury destinations, where winter comes to summer. Brands such as Gucci, Chanel, Philip Hulitar, and St. John, as well as iconic fashion influencers such as Jacqueline Kennedy and Lilly Pulitzer adopted fresh new looks, ingenuity, and a philanthropic spirit.

The Fashion Beaux Arts, a fashion and entertainment mecca in Palm Beach 1916-1942, included the latest New York and Paris fashion houses, transforming Palm Beach into the winter fashion capital of the world. When the 1920s building boom that followed World War I caused a demand for accessible fashions from Europe, the rise of Worth Avenue began, and the Palm Beach look was born. After World War II, the Royal Poinciana Plaza was built, and the luxurious lifestyle in Palm Beach became synonymous with fashion, specifically resort wear.

A force in retail luxury fashion, Martha Phillips—joined by her daughter Lynn Manulis—brought leading couture designers to Martha’s Boutique on Worth Avenue. Martha’s legacy lives on in the fashion icons she encouraged and promoted in the North American marketplace, including Valentino and Zang Toi.

The Johnson History Museum invited Cameron Silver, King of Vintage, to share his perspective as guest curator of Endless Summer: Palm Beach Resort Wear. Curated artifacts from many private collections, as well as Kent State University, the Pucci Archives, and the Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages, joined treasures from the Historical Society of Palm Beach County’s Collection to showcase the importance of Palm Beach in fashion history.

The Historical Society of Palm Beach County and the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum offer their thanks to those who helped make possible Endless Summer: Palm Beach Resort Wear.

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