Lilly's Story
What is a 21 year-old girl named Lilly to do after she's just eloped?
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Today we are featuring Gordon Russell, Owner of “In the Pink,” a collection of Lilly Pulitzer Signatures Stores across New England, here in our Guest House. We’re so excited to feature Gordon, pictured above with one of his sons, because he’s doing some amazing work to support MitoAction and we’re proudly partnering with him and MitoAction for their upcoming, 2nd annual Sandra K. Russell Derby Day benefit. Sadly, Gordon lost his wife, Sandra who was also his business partner, after she battled with mitochondrial disease. At Lilly Pulitzer, we lead a colorful life, and COLORFUL takes on a lot of meaning in our world. Sandra, a long-time Lilly lover, set a wonderful example for so many in leading a colorful life, reminding us how color can be therapeutic in all of our lives. Gordon has since joined MitoAction as a board member and gratefully gives his time and energy to support this wonderful organization who helps families like his. And of course, we’re happy to spread the word about the great things Gordon and MitoAction are doing and get the word out about their upcoming Derby Day (buy tickets here!) to honor Sandra and raise awareness and funds for MitoAction. Here is Gordon to tell us a little bit about how this all got started…
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Guest House with Molly Andrews of Chairloom
Posted on April 20, 2011 in Guest House, Stuff We Love by Lindsay
This week we are so proud to host Molly Andrews in our Guest House. Molly is the creator of Chairloom, a local Main Line design service that specialises in the reinvention of antique furniture by reupholstering pieces with fun, fresh fabrics. We love her creative vision, her passion for reusing and reinventing and her childhood memories of Lilly clothing. She used to watch her Lilly clad grandmother rescue injured pelicans with her bare hands and walk them gently to the vet. Now that’s a woman to be admired! With Earth Day this Friday we thought her story was the perfect focus. A few weeks back, we gave Molly some of our left over Summer 2011 fabric, she provided a chair that she found while sifting through a thrift store and we headed to her upholsterer. It was amazing to watch the chair’s transformation. Upholstery is a true art and now one of our lucky readers will be the proud owner of the finished product. Entry details will follow soon but in the meantime check out our q&a to learn more about Molly Andrews and Chairloom.
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Lilly Loves the Junior League!
Posted on April 13, 2011 in Guest House, Prints and Patterns, Stuff We Love by
We’re very excited to welcome Susan Danish, Executive Director of The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc., into our Guest House today. Building better communities through service is something very near and dear to Lilly’s heart and the Junior League and their members embody that ideal so partnering with the Junior League to create a custom Murfee was an easy decision. We asked Susan to tell us a little more about the Junior League so we could share it with all of you…
Tell us a little about the Junior League
The first Junior League was founded in New York City in 1901 and today there are 292 Leagues in four countries – Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are 155,000 members. Junior Leagues are organizations of women who, through their volunteer leadership and activities, work to improve their communities. Each Junior League is a volunteer led and run nonprofit organization that assesses the most pressing needs in its community and then either creates a program or partners with other organizations, businesses and / or local government to create or build programs that address those needs. Through the decades Leagues have tackled issues like domestic violence, women and alcohol, early childhood education and literacy, human trafficking, childhood obesity, the environment and more.
Junior League members have gone on to found nonprofits, sit on nonprofit boards, run nonprofits, hold appointed or elected offices. Today in the U.S., there are Junior League members in the Senate and House, and one of our most prominent members was the first women appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor. Junior Leagues are diverse organizations who welcome all women who share their passion for giving back and doing so in a meaningful way.
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Our house guests are hosting us next Tuesday, 9pm ET, for a Twitter Party – look for more details about it on Friday!
You know when you have friends that you adore but have a tiny, tiny (in a Lilly way not a stalker way) bit of jealousy for them? I mean, they just dress cool and they’re funny – everyone wants to be around them and hear what their take is on everything. Well, two prime examples of this for moi are my friends Jane Wagman and Liz Lange. They have effortless style, they are HILARIOUS…and they always make me feel like I am running with the cool crowd. Jane taught me the magic of spray tans and an excessive worship of costume jewelry. Liz gives golden advice and introduced me to her TDF friend Jonathan Adler. These girls run in the fast lane and they take Lilly along with them. We are SOOOO excited to do anything with them…ever. SO, it is a natural DUH that we would want them housed permanently in our GUEST HOUSE. Welcome girls – share your chic wisdom! xx – Janie
Give us the lowdown – what is Shopafrolic and why will our readers absolutely adore you?
Liz & Jane: Shopafrolic is a site/newsletter dedicated exclusively to fashion and shopping. I started it in partnership with my chic sister. First I wanted to help women look fab when they were pregnant and now I just want to help them look fab ALL the time! So if you sign up at shopafrolic.com you get daily shopping advice from us! Every day we email you 3 items that we can’t live without (a fashion item, an accessory and a beauty item). We tell you why we like it/how to wear it and we link you to the website where you can buy it. We don’t always post things we both like and we will always tell you why. On Thursdays we have famous guest editors do the picking; everyone from Tory Burch to Nina Garcia!
Earmuffs, Jane. Liz- what is it really like working with your sister??
Liz: Working with my sister is truly a dream come true (Jane – you can take off the earmuffs!) I actually asked her to be my partner back in the day when I started Liz Lange Maternity. She is the ONLY person whose taste I trust, the only person I can go shopping with… and she’s my best friend. As a matter of fact, we just got back from a trip to Paris together, one of the best shopping cities in the world!
What inspires your style? Any inspiration on your latest trip to Paris?
Liz: I would describe my style as being very upper east side chic (if I do say so myself!). Though I love to wear mini lengths and sky high heels, the silhouettes I choose to make my uniform are fairly classic: shift dresses, A-line skirts, slim pants, simple sweaters, fun blouses, trench coats, cardigans and pea jackets. No chunky platforms for me! That said, I do LOVE color (that’s what draws me to Lilly!!)
Jane: Liz is so consistent in her style while I can go a bunch of different ways – sometimes I like to be upper east side chic as well but I will usually throw in something unexpected like pink pumps or a huge vintage red lacquer cuff or a colored fur coat. I always like to look a tiny bit like I just escaped from the insane asylum. To me, like decorating, fashion is super fun and if you are not experimenting and taking risks, there’s no point! I’m sure I make fashion mistakes (or maybe not) but I don’t care! And Paris was amazing. There were so many little boutiques of lesser known names. Liz and I wandered into an amazing shoe store called Minelli where every pair of shoes were under $100 and so uber chic. We both walked out with bugling shopping bags.
Surely your mom introduced you to Lilly at a young age – what’s your earliest memory of Lilly Pulitzer?
Liz: One of our mom’s favorite vacation destinations is Palm Beach (today we love taking our children there too) and when I think of mom back then, it is in a Lilly dress and Jack Roger “Navajos.” She loves classic American brands.
Jane: Our mother always made us dress up. When I look at pictures of Liz and I as children on sunny family vacations, we were always matching; Lilly or Florence Eismann dresses with white cardigans and mary janes.
Do you don Lilly now? When/where do you tend to wear your Lilly?
Liz: I am in awe of Lilly these days! I have some vintage Lilly; particularly an original blouse in a kelly green print which I pair back to white jeans as well as more current Lilly dresses than I care to admit to! For warmth in Paris I took two Lilly cashmere ruffle wraps with me, one black and one red. These days, Lilly is a family affair as I have been buying it for my 10 year old daughter since she was a baby!
Jane: I live very near the Lilly store on Madison Avenue. I am always stopping dead in my tracks to admire the new items in the window (and inside). I love how Janie and the entire Lilly team have maintained the integrity of the original Lilly sensibility while making it modern. It is so wearable for every age from infant to grandma. I don’t know any other brand that can say that. You always hear “mommy and me” but “Grammy and me”!?! I wear a ton of Lilly in the summer-my absolute favorite shorts are Lilly. I can’t get enough of the cute patterns- I love it all!
Any parting last words for our Lilly Lovers?
Jane & Liz: Even if for some crazy reason you are not a print/pattern type of girl and an iconic Lilly print is not for you, (how can that be???) today Lilly has gone beyond their signature prints. You can find the best shapes in fun solid colors and even in black. And I love the accessories, particularly the adorable flats and sandals and the great bags from clutches to totes.
You can find Jane & Liz shopafrolic-ing online, on Facebook and on Twitter.
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As our readers know, 2011 is all about celebrating the arts here at Lilly Pulitzer. So it makes perfect sense that one of our choice philanthropic partners for 2011 would be Urban Arts Partnership. We’re very excited to have Philip Courtney, Executive Director, with us in the Guest House today. We’ve asked him to tell us a little bit about Urban Arts Partnership and give us a peek into some of the exciting programs they have planned this year.
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In our Guest House series, we like to invite our fun and fashionable friends over [to the Colorful Blog] to tell you a little bit about themselves. Imagine us saying… “Oooohhh, you just have to meet ___! You’re gonna loooove her/him!” So today we’ve cozied up on the couch next to Cheree Berry, color-lover, fashion-forward entrepreneur and designer of some of Lilly Pulitzer’s Lifeguard Press stationery to spill… (and…um…give us a lollipop tower for one of readers! That was after we giggled for a bit but she caved- read on!)
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