Some Lilly Fun

As I mentionned in my previous post, one of the few post-holidays sales I partook in this year is the Lilly Pulitzer two-day sale last week. Sales at Lilly Pulitzer.com take place only twice a year (in January and late August) and last only two days, then everything that is not sold-out goes back to full price or is removed from the website. So if you are interested in something in particular this is your only shot at getting it for a reduced price, at least on the website (you can get pretty good deals in store year-round but that's another story). It is also one of the rare occasions where they offer free shipping no minimum, so it is worth it to throw in some non-sale items to try out.

The first day I had a good look at the sale but couldn't pull the trigger on anything because many of the items heavily reduced in price were marked final sale (it's a retailers pleague!) and I wasn't stalking anything in particular. I went quickly to the store the morning after to try something that was tempting me but I decided that I didn't need it after all. So in the end I pulled the trigger on one item that I had tried a long ago in store but decided that I would get only at a deep discount (I also ordered some of their fleeces and a dress for my daughter. Love when I can get some mini-Lillys for the price of a Gap on sale) and wasn't final sale.
It's a little funky jacket called "Sylvia" (as I said it has been removed from the Lilly website and it is back to FP at Splashes of Pink, which is a Lilly signature store):

First, let me tell you that they price that they asked for this ($228) is absolutely crazy IMO, being a knit. I got it for $59 and I wouldn't have paid much more (in fact when I tried it in store it was already on sale for $79 and it wasn't a price that I was willing to pay at that time). But for $59 I am happy to add something unusual to my closet.
I got it in this brown/ivory colorway, which is the color that I had tried in store. It also came in a navy/pink colorway (with a smaller-scaled print) but I have more than enough navy jackets. What really pushed me to get it is that I have now the perfect dress to wear with it, a recent acquisition that I got on sale at Joe Fresh (I have the same one in burgundy too, as some of you will remember):

This was already cheap at full price ($39) and was only $19 on sale (when it sold-out I really regretted not getting it at full price, but one day I found this one on sale, probably a return. I really had zero hopes to find it but it paid to go in often just to check because you never know). By the way, I don't know what's going on with the lining being longer than the dress itself but for $19 I thought I would find a solution (even if I have to have the lining hemmed).
The dress is a year-round dress (because of the lining and quite substantial weigth) but I was afraid that I wouldn't know what to wear with it in fall/winter time (thus, my not buying it when it was FP). I found that this jacket really complements it and all of a sudden I have a no-brainer outfit ready, which makes the dress much more weareable:

And yes, those are shoes on the jacket! Funky, as I said. Because of the print, the big ivory button and the collar shape, it has a vintage-y feeling, like something that you would find at a thrift store:

As I said, I wouldn't probably have bought it if I hadn't found the dress on sale. It does look good with pants and jeans but I don't need another pants jacket, as pretty much all my jackets are pants jackets. This is with my toothpick cords, for example:

I am really happy with this "find". At least it isn't another schoolboy blazer ;-). If it weren't for the problem with the lining of the dress, I would wear it tonight to a school event and then out to dinner with friends.
Instead I am going to wear a much more serious outfit (the dress is by the Loft, the jacket is an old Zara from the time when I worked in an office and the necklace is a Majorica pearls necklace that I won at the school benefit auction last year). Yes, I am pretending to be a layer or something (just kidding but you will agree that it doesn't look like something that I usually wear):

What do you think of my funky jacket? Would you wear a jacket with shoes on it? Did you partake in the Lilly sale last week? Please share!

A Little Lilly in My Suitcase

I can't believe I am packing again, this time for a family vacation in the Hamptons where we go every year (we leave tomorrow and will be back on the 15th). I know that it is a good thing (packing = vacation) and I shouldn't complain but this year our summer has been punctuated by a trip every two-three weeks and I feel like I have been living with my suitcase open all the time. Also, the fact that my MIL has been staying with us for almost two months felt like a vacation for me. Is there a thing like too much vacation?

Anyway, besides the "usual suspects" (JCrew, Calypso, Loft) I have a new entry in my summer suitcase: Lilly Pulitzer. I have never been a Lilly girl but in my opinion this year they had the best prints around, hands down. I have been swooning over their dresses since the first spring collection and I have been visiting the store almost as much as JCrew. Halas, their price points are pretty steep even for the most simple day dresses, as you probably know, and without any special occasion it was difficult to justify a purchase (I looked at their maxis for the beach wedding but they were too maxi for me and too expensive). As some of you will remember I broke down during the Bloomindgale's F&F back in the spring and bought this dress for a deeply discounted price but I had to return it because it was too snug in the XS and I couldn't find a S on sale. Plus, I had honestly nowhere to wear it at that time and I was afraid that it would just hung pretty in my closet.

So last week when they started their summer sale I went on the first day, determined to buy something from the summer collection. The dresses that I had been eyeing were pretty much gone in my size and at this point I don't need any other summer dress anyway but they had a cute skirt in one of my favorite summer prints. A skirt is something that I can easily throw on and wear in my everyday life (it doesn't need an occasion) and I don't have anything like this one so this skirt satisfied my print envy while filling a (little) hole in my closet.
It's the lovely Roselyn skirt in the extremely cheerful "Hotty Pink Skinny Dippin Mini" print that also comes in a lovely sundress very reminiscent of old Jcrew IMO and a classic shift. The skirt was 50% off, so a pretty good deal and I wore it right away yesterday to take my daughter to a Broadway show (it goes surprisingly well with the Delaney eyelet top that I had a hard time to wear with anything so far):

While I was scratching my head to find something other than white to wear with it on vacation, I remembered that I had the JCrew retro shell in the popsicle pink color, which turned out to be a perfect match. Don't you love when all of a sudden a cloth that was pretty much neglected because you didn't know what to pair with it, finds a soulmate?

If their dresses are quite expensive, their accessories are more affordable and SO summery. Just before my trip to St. Maarten I found a lovely necklace on sale that I was planning to wear with my wedding outfit (I actually took a few pics of the outfit before leaving but in the end I didn't wear the scarf nor the necklace at the wedding, but I wore the necklace with other outfits, it goes with pretty much everything):

The other day when I was at the store I bought another similar necklace that I had been eyeing, the Starstruck necklace in the ginger orange colorway (the turquoise is lovely too but I have many turquoise necklaces). By the way, for some reasons these show as still full price on the website but they are $29.99 or less in store.
Here is on me, with an old BR tee in the same color:

Finally, I just acquired on ebay an old Lilly dress that has been on my mind for two years. This style is called "Petula" and they make it every year but this print, called "Limeade Coral Me Crazy" is from 2010 and pretty unique (I just LOVE those colors). I had actually bought a dress for my daughter in this print because I couldn't afford it for me. Even on ebay it has always sold for much more than I could justify but this summer it popped up for a reasonable price and I could snag a XS after a couple of fails. The irony is that I was bidding on it just before the wedding in St. Maarten, hoping that I would win it and it would arrive in time for me to wear it at the wedding but I was outbid at the last minute (I had decided on a firm maximum price and didn't want to bid again). A day later I was given a second chance but it was too late for the wedding and it arrived once I was back. Oh well, I just need another invitation to a beach wedding (in the meanwhile I will wear it on vacation. BTW, I have it shortened to a weareable lenght since these pics were taken):

OK, I have to leave you to put all this stuff in the suitcase. I have scheduled a post for you while I am gone, so stay tuned!

Did you buy anything at Lilly Pulitzer this season?

Bloomingdales Family & Friends is Here!

So, in case you live in a cave and you never go shopping, you don't subscribe to every retailer's newsletter or you are actually more interested in the war in Lybia and you haven't heard, it's Bloomingdales Family and Friends this week, where you receive 20% off your purchase in store and online (code SPRINGFF, there is no minimum but free shipping is automatically applied to orders of $150 and more).

Bloomi F&F is my favorite of all the department stores F&F events because they have very few restrictions (very few brands, like Chanel and Coach are excluded), coupons are stackable (sign up for emails to receive a 10% off code that you can use on top of the F&F code!) and the store is only a subway station way from my apartment, so I can go to the store to see in person and make returns in case things don't work out. Not to mention that you can return any time for a full refund. My longtime followers will probably remember that last year I took advantage of the promo to buy a Marc Jacobs crossbody bag.

Now I know that there are a few Tory Burch fans among my readers and if you want my opinion, this is your best chance to buy a pair of classic Tory Burch Reva flats at a discounted price (I say classic because the patterned ones or the styles not in leather but in fabrics usually go on sale at the end of the season and are then discontinued). Tory Burch runs a F&F event too, where the discount is higher if I'm not wrong (30% off) but Revas are excluded. So it is Bloomingdales F&F or ebay (where you have to deal with fakes, high shipping rates and used pairs that sell like they were new).
You know that I like me some Tory, so I jumped on the promo and bought two pairs, one online (for $140 because I could stack two codes) and one in store (because they weren't available online). I think that I am going to keep only one pair, even if it will be a hard decision. Pics when he second pair is here!

My picks:

Reva Leather Flats. The classic. If you have to buy only one pair the black classic leather one with the goldtoned metal logo is a must. It goes with everything and you often see it in my outfit pics. I am actually surprised that these are still available in most sizes. They also come in silver, which is a versatile choice for summer.
Reva Tumbled Leather flats. I ordered these in the royal tan color for spring, but the white (bleach) looks great too!
Reva Patent Leather flats. This could be a good alternative to the classic black leather.

Size-wise, I go with my regular shoe size in Revas. People often size half up when buying shoes with the elastic, but honestly these are TTS and they would fall off your feet behind.
Of course there are other Tory Burch shoes than you can buy with this promo, like the Miller sandals (I have them in gold) and the Thora flip-flops (I have two pairs and they are possibly the most comfortable summer shoes that you will ever own. They are expensive, but they are totally worth it IMO and they look very stylish. They also hold up pretty well for flip-flops). I ordered the leopard patent version, but now I regret not ordering a pair of white ones instead (sold-out now). Maybe I will go back to the store by the end of the weekend. By the way, when I told the SA that I had a FF coupon but on my phone, not printed, she replied "Everybody has it, we are all friends at Bloomingdale's!" Don't you love that?

Taling about costumer service, I had an amazing costumer service experience the other day. I was tempted to order a Lilly Pulitzer dress along with the shoes (a dress that had been longtime on my wishlist and I had already tried in store), but in the end I talked myself out of it because even with the code it was still more than I wanted to pay for it. When I went to the store the day after, I saw the dress and it was 30% off in store but sold-out in my size. So when I came home I chatted with a CS agent online and told her that I wanted to order it but I had just saw it for 30% less in store. She said that if the store could confirm the sale price she would happily honor it. She called the store (all while chatting) and I could order it for the store price less the 20% off FF, for almost 50% off! Wouldn't it be great if "some other retailer" did the same for its coustomers?

This is the dress, BTW:

Lilly Pulitzer Whitaker Jersey Knit Dress

I almost bought this one too, for a wedding this summer, but it wasn't on sale and really too expensive right now (I don't know what it is but I like Lilly Pulitzer dresses this year). Plus, can you see a pattern? People will point at me as to "the lady who only wears one-shoulder dresses":

Lilly Pulitzer Teresa Silk One-Shoulder Dress

Are you going to take advantage of the Bloomingdales Family & Friend event?
Any question, let me know!

Happy weekend and happy shopping!

Lilly Pulitzer Valentine's Day Gift Picks

Good morning and Happy Sunday!

Last week I stopped by the Lilly Pulitzer store on Madison Avenue (where I rarely go even if it is just on the other side of the street from the JCrew Collection store) because something in the window caught my eye and I must admit that I was smitten by many of the accessories that were on display. I am not a "Lilly" girl (in fact I don't own anything by Lilly Pulitzer) and even if I like to browse their resort clothes I find them to be too expensive; but the accessories are more affordable and there are many that would make a great Valentine's Day gift, so I thought that I would share, especially since February is not only the month when we celebrate love but also the month that many choose for a warm weather vacation.

My top pick is this adorable straw clutch with critter ornament. The size is perfect and I love that it comes with a chain strap to carry it around. The navy, with the fish, is my favorite and is on my wishlist:



If you like matchy-matchy, you could pair it with the necklace:



and even the sandals:



If you have missed the JCrew rattan clutch in 2009, this golden clutch is a good, even if more expensive, alternative:



The Murfee wrap will keep you warm during those romantic evening chandel-lit dinners on the beach. I especially love this color combination:



But even if you are not going anywhere, Lilly has something for you to celebrate. What is more appropriate for Valentine's Day than this "key to your heart" necklace?:



Even if according to Pam from "The Office" (I am watching Season 6 on DVD and I am loving it) a woman doesn't buy heart-shaped jewelry for herself, I would totally buy this one, especially since it is very affordable (but a warning: I saw it IRL and it is very shiny).

And if you are eyeing a more expensive item, like a dress, don't miss the Valentine's Day promotion valid through tomorrow 2/14. If you spend $250 or more, this hand-printed jewelry roll free with your purchase:



You can also order any of these items through the www.splashofpink.com signature store and receive 10% off your order with code THX01, valid through 2/21 (but apparently they are not running the jewelry roll promo).

Do you like any of these picks? Do you shop at lLilly Pulitzer?

Happy shopping and Happy Valentine's Day!