National Wear Your Lilly Day 2024

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY Summer Solstice ANDDD National Wear Your Lilly Day!!!! SO, *of course* I am celebrating the start of my FAVORITE season in *none other than* my favorite fashion brand Lilly Pulitzer! Every Summer, I fall IN LOVE with Summer more and more and more than the Summer before. Funny enough, I used to despite Summer, as I despise the heat and humidity in the air (despite LOVING Summer ironically – LOL!). But, today and every day this Summer 2024, I am going to celebrate my favorite season of the year in *of course* Lilly Pulitzer!

*Disclaimer: Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase through one of my links, then I will receive a small commission. This commission is at no extra cost to you. Additionally, this post is not sponsored, and all opinions are my own.*

Summer brings me SO MUCH JOY! Not only is it a unique time as its peak tourist season in the prime spots that I spend Summer in aka my home base of the Washington, DC/Northern Virginia are and my Dad’s home base and my Summer escape of Bethany Beach, Delaware, but it is also a prime travel time making it much more relaxing on the work and personal front. Oddly enough, I LOVE peak tourist season, due to the fact that I get to meet people from EVERYWHERE without leaving my own backyard and it truly is a melting pot (both culturally and LITERALLY with the heat!). It truly is magical when tourists are around! Summer is truly an opportunity to explore where I live but also some new-to-me places, too, as I try to add 2-3 new places to my list of places been each Summer as well. At the same time, I LOVE the many opportunities to truly slow down, recharge, and emphasize the need to practice mindfulness in the Summer months. Truly, there are SOOO many reasons that I love Summer, and I could gush about this incredible season that I adore ALL SEASON LONG.

My Summer 2024 is an exciting one, as I have two trips planned to two very new-to-me states, yet two states that I have had on my radar for YEARS (more to come in August/September on those!). I am also going to visit some previously visited places in North Carolina and the Midwest, too, to visit some friends and enjoy some new spots in those places this Summer season. At the same time, I will ALSO be spending LOTS of weekends (and weeks too) in Bethany Beach, Delaware with my Dad, Step Mom, and their Yorkie aka my “Sissy” Ginger whom I have a close bond with, alongside our family and friends. My Summers in Bethany Beach are SO SO SO special to me and nothing short of a blessing. I also love the magic of the beach (and busy boardwalk) during the peak Summer season! At the same time, I plan to spend some special moments with my friends close to home, such as happy hours overlooking the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria, a few performances at the Kennedy Center, picnics with friends to local parks, and many days in the sunshine with my dog Rosie. Through it all, I am excited for what Summer 2024 has in store!

As we all know, Lilly Pulitzer is SUCH a Summer staple. Although I am a firm believer that Lilly Pulitzer can be beautifully styled in different ways all year long, Summer truly is THE MONTH for styling ALL THINGS Lilly Pulitzer! One of my favorite Summer staples is the Kristen Flounce Swing dress (similar style here) that I am styling that can be worn for casual Summer work from home days and walks with Rosie to dinners on the town or (in my case) the boardwalk. Truly, my love of Lilly Pulitzer and wearing it in the Summer months is the icing on the cake of my love for Summer!

My love for Summer truly continues to grow as the years go by! Lilly Pulitzer has definitely made my love for this fun month only bloom into something very beautiful. For now, I am *more than excited* to enjoy the longest day of 2024 and I hope YOU are too!!!

See my previous posts on National Wear Your Lilly Day here:

Happy National Wear Your Lilly Day 2024!!!!

XOXO – Katie <3

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National Wear Your Lilly Day 2023

Happy Summer Solstice and first *official* day of summer (!!!). Over the years, summer has surprisingly been my least favorite season. I, then, despised the hot and humid weather and simply wanted to curl up in a warm blanket and sweatshirt and pajama pants with a cup of tea and admire the snow outside with a fire pit in the background. However, in recent times, I have started to LOVE the warmer months of summer and spring much more than the cooler ones (although, I will ALWAYS be a sucker for fall!!). To kick off the first day of summer aka the day that this post is published on the blog, fellow Lilly Pulitzer lovers like myself commemorate the start of summer with National Wear Your Lilly Day (see my 2022 posting on it here)!

This past weekend, I got to spend the weekend with my Dad and Step Mom in Bethany Beach, Delaware and my best friend Amanda came to join us, too (it was Amanda’s first time in Delaware!!). We had such a special weekend together and it was truly incredible. Going to Bethany Beach was such a GREAT way to kick off Summer 2023, SO I had Amanda take some photos of me here to share on this platform with y’all in honor of *none other than* National Wear Your Lilly Day. I feel so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing friend like Amanda whom I can call family, as we’ve known one another since we were little.

So, you may be wondering, what is National Wear Your Lilly Day (NWYLD)?! NWYLD is a day commemorated today (or the day that I published this blog post!!!) aka the First Day of Summer/Summer Solstice. THIS IS A DAY in which ALL Lilly Pulitzer lovers love to embrace. We can commemorate our love of the Lilly Pulitzer brand, our community, and share it with others, too. The Lilly Pulitzer brand all started with a juice stand in Palm Beach, Florida. Lilly (McKim) Pulitzer had recently moved to Palm Beach, Florida with her husband and simply needed something to do. So, Pulitzer started a juice stand and uncovered that there were no dresses and pieces that she loved that would cover her juice stains. And, well, that was how the brand of Lilly Pulitzer begun: Pulitzer started making brightly and beautifully printed clothing that would cover her juice stains. Soon after, the likes of the Kennedy family (including former First Lady Jackie Kennedy!!!) and many more flocked to the Lilly Pulitzer brand which has become a prominent brand that many love to this day. Knowing the start of the Lilly Pulitzer brand (which I wrote MANY high school and college papers on – LOL!) is helpful in bringing together the community that Lilly Pulitzer has brought to me and several others as well.

My FAVORITE part of kicking off NWYLD is the sheer fact that I can *finally* use the #SummerInLilly acceptably – LOL!! Every day feels like summer when you’re in Lilly Pulitzer, though (!!!). I decided to *finally* pop the tags on my Cody Shift dress from the Sunshine Sale back in September 2022, which I write about here, and pair it with my Talbots straw navy and white striped pineapple clutch which I got from ThredUp, Jack Rogers pineapple and flamingo sandals, and jewelry from the likes of Kendra Scott, Amazon, Target, and The Inspiration Co. This outfit was PERFECT for shopping on the Bethany Beach boardwalk and dinner nearby afterwards. It was also the best look to commemorate #SummerInLilly!

Needless to say, summer is ALWAYS better in Lilly Pulitzer!!! What can I say?!

XOXO – Katie <3

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A Summer in Lilly Pulitzer Workwear Look

If you’re a big Lilly Pulitzer fan (like myself!!), then you probably know that Lilly Pulitzer has its own unique #SummerInLilly across its social media channels. Many Lilly Pulitzer lovers – like myself! (follow me @_thepinkchickadee on Instagram) – love to show off their #SummerInLilly ALL across social media. Lilly Pulitzer is typically seen as a resort luxury fashion brand. I mean, the fashion house was founded in Palm Beach, Florida! BUT, there is so much more that Lilly Pulitzer can be styled for besides a nice outfit for vacation or a night out in the summer. Here, I am going to be sharing a summer in Lilly Pulitzer workwear look!

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SO, you may be thinking: Lilly Pulitzer AND work do not seem like a worthy combination. BUT, IT IS! Flash back to when I was in college and I was known as “the Lilly [Pulitzer] girl” amongst my classmates and across my college campus. At the same time, many of us were talking about internships and professional events that we went to. I LOVED and still love Lilly Pulitzer and wanted to incorporate it into my everyday wardrobe, including *yes* my workwear wardrobe when I was working 9 to 5 like I do now. Many of my friends would disagree with me on the idea that Lilly Pulitzer can be worn for work and tried to sway me to look elsewhere and to other brands for workwear. While that can be true in some regards for workwear and specific work events and meetings and days, it isn’t the case all the time, especially for my work from home life and the casual more so open-ended dress code that my company has for when we do go in person. However, in my college years, I was fearful that I would have to let go of my love for Lilly Pulitzer in the work space.

Although I was nervous that I would have to dress in any brand BUT Lilly Pulitzer for work, that was ONLY just a fear of mine. It happened to be that many Lilly Pulitzer pieces can be worn in the workplace if styled accordingly. One of my favorite fellow influencers and friends of mine on Instagram for styling Lilly Pulitzer and well in general is Julie of @julies_colorful_life on the gram (definitely go check her out!!). Julie is the QUEEN of styling bright, colorful, and preppy work looks on Instagram, many of which include none other than Lilly Pulitzer. Many of Julie’s work looks with Lilly Pulitzer involve gorgeous cardigans, jackets, Sarah Flint shoes, and classic totes from brands like Louis Vuitton and Longchamp. Julie ALWAYS looks so adorable in her work looks and has inspired me and made me realize that I could do just the same for my work wardrobe, too. The office does not have to be a neutral-only place, like many think!

Funny story: so, I went to a work event back in early April and I was 1/2 folks dressed in bright color out of the ENTIRE conference room. The other one was my fellow work friend Katherine and we were SO proud of our fun, colorful looks and we OWNED it! One of my fellow coworkers who had just met me immediately was obsessed with my look and exclaimed “you look like Elle Woods!!” aka the BEST compliment yet and she was given immediate bestie status – LOL! The bottom line of this story is to BE YOU and wear what YOU WANT – though, within reason – for the office. Usually, most will be happy you did and you will be too!

So, for my outfit, I stuck to some pieces that I either thrifted or purchased during the Lilly Pulitzer Sunshine Sale back in September 2021 aka my Lilly Pulitzer pineapple midi dress. As for the headband aka the exception to where all pieces were purchased along with my tote, I got it from Spartina 449 via a FabFitFun Edit Sale. My tote was customized via my alma mater Meredith College’s Alumnae Marketplace – the Meredith Market – around Christmas time. It is LL Bean! Meanwhile, my thrifted finds include my hot pink Tommy Hilfiger cardigan and my Valentino rock stud flats dupes from the Mix No5 brand sold at DSW currently. I got the flats for a whopping $1 at Philly Aids Thrift – which donates all proceeds to LGBTQ+ nonprofits – in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania while with my best friend Violet last September. The pearl necklace was given to me by my Mom.

So, remember that YOU can wear Lilly Pulitzer for workwear!

XOXO – Katie <3

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