For those of you who weren't aware, Lilly Pulitzer and Target collaborated on a "one time only" summer collection. There was a ton of hype, both negative and positive, but I was ecstatic. Between the swimwear, shifts and home goods, this Target collection was perfect for me and when I found out that Lilly for Target would be having a launch at Bryant Park in Manhattan four days early I was just about the happiest girl on the planet and immediately made plans to skip retail management class (oops, sorry).
One of the most important things a brand can do is create an experience for their customer. Palm Beach lifestyle brand Lilly Pulitzer did just that in the early launch of their Target collection. As a New Yorker I think I speak for everyone when I say cold weather is getting old quick. Lilly for Target could not have picked a more gorgeous day for the Bryant Park launch because the weather has just recently warmed up. I can say with confidence they created a wonderful atmosphere for their shoppers and for the average city goer just enjoying this splash of Palm Beach in Bryant Park. To anyone who had doubts about Lilly for Target "devaluing" the brand, if you were at Bryant Park this Thursday you would have instantly changed your mind. Everyone was treated like royalty between the Target employees who worked the pop-up shop, the manicurists, the servers at the Juice Bar and even Lilly corporate.
So what exactly did Lilly for Target offer at Bryant Park? Aside from the adorable pop-up shop they had a Juice Bar with freshly squeezed orange juice because as you know "it all started with a juice stand," Lilly ping-pong (which some business men on their lunch break seemed to be enjoying), free manicures which is my broke college student dream and Lilly designers painting Lilly prints right in front of you! I also can't forget about the well-known Bryant Park fountain being turned pink.
Now down to what you probably want to hear about, the collection, the pop-up shop experience and what I actually purchased. I got to Bryant Park around 6:30 in the morning to get in line and they started letting customers in at 8 o'clock a few at a time. I had grabbed a scarf and a beach towel (two things I intended on getting), but I couldn't track down any shifts in my size (0 or 2). After looking for a while and waiting on restocks several times, I gave up on finding a shift dress and went to the other aspects of the Lilly experience (aka getting my manicure).
I went back to the store with my roommate later in the day and suddenly hit a streak of good luck. The second I walked in I found an employee holding a stack of size 2 shift dresses! I don't think I could have been happier. Below I'm going to post pictures from the Target website of the items I purchased and some commentary on them.
Shift Dress in Upstream ($38, size 2)
Fringe Scarf in Upstream ($20)
Beach Towel in Fan Dance ($25)
As for SIZING: I am getting a lot of questions about sizing for the Lilly for Target collection. Do not go by your size at Lilly Pulitzer, the clothing runs by Target sizing. You can find a link to the Target size chart here. In my opinion, it runs very true to size! I purchased a 2 and according to Target sizing a 0/2 = XS, which is accurate to my dress size and it fits perfectly.
Honorable Mention Products: All of the shift dresses, beach bags, scarves and pillows, jumpsuit in Upstream, Crochet tank top
Products I Didn't Love: Romper in Happy Place, anything in the print Boom Boom, phone cases were cute, but not great quality, shorts were a bit flimsy
As a final note, I had an amazing experience at the launch event! For anyone wondering, swimwear, shoes and furniture were things I noticed that were not sold at the pop-up shop.
I will link my social media below so if you have any questions you can ask me on my Tumblr and for more pictures/commentary you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr. Thanks for reading!
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xo Steph
