Going to school in the south, it is hard to not be familiar with Lilly Pulitzer. The clothes are super bright and have unique and happy patterns. It is hard not to smile when wearing a Lilly. The quality is fantastic and the style is fun. I like to consider myself a Lilly girl. The problem is Lilly Pulitzer doesn’t make it very easy being a Lilly girl if you are over a size 12, which I am.
I want to start by saying that this is an issue with several companies, not just Lilly Pulitzer. I also want to add that I am not trying to make an excuse for my size. I am saying that there are women who love Lilly Pulitzer and believe in the happiness it can bring who either aren’t able to wear it or have to work much harder to do so.
Lilly makes an extra extra small but not an extra extra large. They vary the size options for different styles so that some go to a 14, but others just a 12. This is not taking into account that some dresses or outfits are made small, causing people to size up.
Those who are typical XL’s or larger are limited to those pieces that are made true-to-size or intentionally larger. Being a bigger Lilly girl means finding the few styles that work for you and getting patterns in that style. This is easier said than done as larger sizes are harder to find in stores and always seem to sell out first online. If the larger sizes are selling out fast, maybe that means there is a great untapped market available.
The After Party Sale, Lilly’s semi-annual sale, is currently happening which is what brought this topic to the forefront of my mind as I looked through the dresses quickly and saw how many XL’s were gone before I completed my order 30 minutes into the sale.
Lilly did a one-time partnership line with Target that line included plus sizes. I was super excited about this because before then, I had assumed I wouldn’t fit into “regular” Lilly dresses. The catch, however, was that plus sizes were only sold online. They sold out so fast, that it became a running joke that it was #LillyforEbay because of all of the marked up resales. In the end, I spent more on some Lilly for Target pieces than actual Lilly, defeating the purpose.
“Being happy never goes out of style” is a popular Lilly Pulitzer quote and it encompasses how I feel when I put on a Lilly dress. But the extra amount of work and self-doubt that can be involved in the process is not what I want to associate. I hope that Lilly Pulitzer will consider their current fans and all the fans they could reach if their clothing were available in more sizes. I would be more than happy to act as a consultant.
