A Lilly Pulitzer Holy Grail Moment

Ever since Bryn and I were planning on visiting our friend Maxwell in Hawaii, I had a dream photo shoot at the iconic “pink palace” aka the Royal Hawaiian Hotel located in downtown Waikiki. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is seriously iconic in all its pink glory. And, what better way to style this photoshoot of my dreams than in a Lilly Pulitzer holy grail printed shift?!?!

*Just* in case you didn’t know, Lilly Pulitzer has a few select popular prints over the years that are considered “holy grail”. Many of these holy grail prints are archived and not sold/continued to be sold by Lilly Pulitzer. Some of these prints are upwards of 10+ years old, too. I found this amazing holy grail print guide by Ayana Lage here. When people think of Lilly Pulitzer prints, they may very well picture one (or more!) of Lilly Pulitzer’s iconic prints. Holy grail prints also sell for hundreds of dollars on secondhand sites such as eBay and Poshmark. Some of my favorites include “Let’s Cha Cha” (which I’m wearing for this photoshoot!) and “First Impressions” which I have hanging in a mini skirt form on my Lilly Pulitzer wall in my cloffice (here) alongside another “Let’s Cha Cha” shift. When I started to fall in love with the Lilly Pulitzer brand and styles, I immediately fell in love with many of the well-known holy grail prints, too!

For my photoshoot at THE Royal Hawaiian Hotel, I decided to *finally* style my “Let’s Cha Cha” shift that I purchased off of ThredUp earlier this year. I initially purchased a “Let’s Cha Cha” shift off of Poshmark in a much smaller size in my college years that now hangs on my Lilly Pulitzer wall! During my latter college years, I ended up growing into my figure and sadly couldn’t fit into many of my loved clothing pieces (including many holy grail Lilly Pulitzer garments). While it took quite a bit of grieving on my part that I probably wouldn’t be able to fit into many of my previously worn Lilly Pulitzer holy grail pieces, I was over the moon when I *finally* found a “Let’s Cha Cha” shift in my now-size for a reasonable price (thanks to eBay and Poshmark, usually it would be out of my price range!). During those years of grieving, I definitely struggled to feel confident with my newly grown into figure and truly feeling like my best self. It wasn’t until Summer 2023 that I felt like my best self again figure-wise. All bodies are beautiful bodies folks! Through it all, truly, having a photoshoot in my “Let’s Cha Cha” shift IN HAWAII no less years after not being able to fit into my previous one was such a full circle moment for me. Only if 2021 Katie knew, she’d be SO excited and smiling SO big!

Indeed, my Lilly Pulitzer holy grail photoshoot was such a dream come true and truly a full circle moment. 100000% one for the books!

XOXO – Katie <3