A major renovation project is getting underway at the Lilly Pulitzer store at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The store is temporarily closed, and is expected to reopen before the end of the year. How much of the holiday shopping season it will be open for is not yet known. But Lilly Pulitzer herself would likely be aghast at the trash bag material covering her namesake boutique's windows. You might expect a major label targeting upscale clientele would offer some sort of branded window screens to its stores to hide construction work, rather than Hefty specials. Mon Dieu!
Lilly Pulitzer would likely be aghast at both the quality of merchandise and at the insolence and character of the saleswomen in the stores now bearing her name. Other than in name, those shops haven't had much to do with the original LP for many years. The brand is currently owned by the sartorial equivalent of Yum! Brands. Oxford Industries owns Pulitzer, Tommy Bahama, Johnny Was, and something called Southern Tide, that last a mass-market knockoff of the already-cut-rate Vineyard Vines. By their company shall ye know them 2026's Lilly is a galaxy removed from the Palm Beach of the '50s that launched the once-distinguished-&-distinctive fashion line.
ReplyDelete9:00 - I'm sure the Lily brand is now far from its origin. But since you mentioned Southern Tide, I had to chime in. A knock off of Vineyard Vines? I'm not sure about that but I can tell you that it's a big hit in the South but definitely has a wide appeal as well. I buy their stuff all the time. There's a retail location over in the Merrifield VA area. If they came to Bethesda, or anywhere lower Moco, they'd do extremely well.
Delete9:00's comment is, by itself, much more informative than the original post's report about trash bags being used to block views through the store's windows.
ReplyDeleteIn other Shocking-Lapses-of-Style news, there's a rumor that someone actually was seen walking near Woodmont Avenue late last week--days after Labor Day!!--while wearing an all-white summer ensemble.