If you’re like me, you may have had your heart set on something, anything from the Lilly For Target collection. We were traveling to San Diego the day before the site was going live. Tired from a long day of travel, I was determined to stay awake to get in early on the action. I made it all the way until midnight Central time before falling asleep. The next morning I found out that the site went live about 15 minutes after I fell asleep. As we all know, by the time I woke up, around 7 a.m. in California, I was way too late.
Things were worse on the ground. Back in Rhode Island, my 71 year-old mother (who still owns original Lilly dresses from the 1970’s) was up early. An avid shopper, she allowed plenty of time to get to her local store in Seekonk, arriving well in advance of it opening. She had her heart set on ONE shirt, the Nosie Posy Button Down. Upon arrival, she found herself in line behind 75 other Lilly lovers. She was met by several policemen, one of whom was lecturing the crowd as if they were preschoolers vying for a spot at the water table or sandbox. There would be no pushing or shoving or trampling of any kind or you would be removed from the premises.
Once they opened the door, it was a scene right out of the running of the brides at Filene’s basement. Only in this case, my mother described how approximately 6 women at the front of the line swiftly loaded ALL of the merchandise into their carts and headed for the dressing rooms or checkout area. My mother had the resourceful idea to head to the dressing room to wait for any items that didn’t fit people. A policeman promptly told her and a few others that was prohibited. She gave up, and drove to another store, only to find the Lilly section there completely emptied as well.
Many people have weighed in during the past two weeks about the Lilly for Target collection and the way it all went down. Some people have said that it’s only clothing, and in the scheme of the world people just need to calm down and get a grip on reality. While I fully agree with that, I would also say Lilly has a real following of folks who have been with them from the beginning, including my mother. As a Lilly lover and a loyal Target shopper, this was a perfect marriage in my mother’s eyes and she was beyond excited to be part of it. She had emailed Target months in advance to find out the exact launch date and what she might expect to find in each store.
Some people don’t remember that Lilly wasn’t available for many years. I am pretty sure my mother wrote to at least 3-4 various people connected to the company over a period of years begging for them to make a comeback. She often talked about the brand fading away as if a friend had died.
My feeling is that both companies really missed the boat on the whole thing. I primarily blame Target. There should have been a limit on items allowed per customer. The collection should have been released over a longer period of time. There should have been more of each item made and more items ordered for each store. Period. Most stores carried 1-2 pieces in each size of the clothing, which is just plain laughable.
At the very least, I had hoped to find my mother a scarf, a straw tote, or even this adorable wristlet with a bamboo handle:
While I would NEVER buy any of the Lilly for Target people are selling on Ebay (on principal alone), I have no problem buying original Lilly fabric online, and bought some of it years ago. I recently looked, and you may be interested to know that there are lots of cute prints currently available.
Since I know I will not be able to buy one of the above wristlets, do you want to guess what I made my mom for Mother’s Day? Target may have let her down, but she doesn’t need that big box bungler to make her Lilly dreams come true…
Not bad, right?
Side note: I find all of my sewing tutorials on Pinterest. Here are a few I like for simple zippered pouches:
http://www.vanillajoy.com/diy-lined-zip-pouch-tutorial-2-variations.html
Here’s my advice: Learn to sew, or find someone to make something for you after you buy yourself some adorable original Lilly fabric on Ebay. With a little grit and determination, you can have a unique Lilly design that all the ladies at the front of the line who snatched up all that merchandise would now give anything to own. Just think, yours will be better made too!
Happy creating!
