Lilly for Target: Pink Sunday

The Lilly for Target collaboration is probably Target’s most hyped designer collaboration since Missoni, and the nickname for its release (Pink Sunday) says it all. There was madness both online and in-store. I managed to order the things I really wanted online and only purchased the Women’s Satin Jumpsuit in Boom Boom in-store, which wasn’t even on my list, but it was the only thing left, and I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it on.

Although I’m not as frazzled as people who got absolutely nothing after waiting hours for the collection the launch, let me recap last night/this morning’s events.

The Online Struggle
The collection was rumored to launch between 12-2 AM CST. A good number of bloggers posted tips on shopping the collaboration online; ‘favorite’ the items you wanted so you could shop them as soon as the collection launched, add items one at a time and check out after each item, etc. Those were all good tips, if you were fortunate enough to catch the ‘glitch’ in Target’s system.

Items started popping up on the website one by one and people caught wind of how to buy them – by googling the item name and adding it to your cart via Target’s mobile website. I only discovered this because I’m an avid hashtag checker on Instagram and Twitter. By the wee hours of the morning, #LillyForTarget was the number one trending topic on Twitter.

This obviously put all who weren’t aware of this glitch at a serious disadvantage. By the time the collection officially launched online, nearly everything was sold out. Target released a statement that they have no plans to restock anything as it’s a limited edition collection.

I managed to get a clutch, the ceramic mugs, and a set of hair ties (not pictured):

Pictures from Target.com

The Hunger Games
After the online mess, a lot of people who didn’t get what they wanted decided they would try their luck in stores. For anyone who lived on the east coast, this was mostly a disaster. I saw pictures of hundreds of people in line an hour to two hours before the store opened in some places. I got to my nearest store at 8:06 AM (six minutes after it opened), and it looked like the collection hadn’t even happened. All of the racks and shelves were empty. People were actually running around the store grabbing what they could, and then running to the register with their purchases. I’m not a Black Friday shopper and I’m not into shopping crowds in general (hence why most of my shopping is done online), so this came as a shock to me. UFABET – Your ultimate destination for online entertainment.

The cashier commented that I was the calmest person he’s seen since the store opened, and I believe him. It’s actually sad what the collaboration turned into, and I hope Target learns from this experience. The thing that upsets me is how many people all over the nation bought out everything just to turn around and sell it on Ebay for basically the same price as regular Lilly Pulitzer – doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of the collection?!

As for me, I’ll be on the lookout these next couple of weeks for returns, and maybe I’ll get lucky. I have a pretty decent Lilly collection (thanks to the twice a year sales), and I’m not a self-proclaimed Lilly addict, so I will survive. I really feel for the people who were counting on this collection to grab their first taste of Lilly, as well as those who were waiting for plus sized Lilly items.

If anyone was wondering about the fit of the jumpsuit, I’d say it’s pretty true to size, and it’s a lot cuter in person than it is on the website. I’m wearing an XL (I normally wear a L) here, so it’s a bit baggy on me, but I’m either going to rock it with a waist-cinching belt or just have my mom take it in for me. I’m pretty sure the length of the L would be awkward on me because of my height as I don’t like my wide legged pants to be short. The quality is okay – I don’t expect it to fall apart anytime soon, but there aren’t any noticeable classic Lilly touches (such as gold hardware). It’s a really cute jumpsuit but I honestly wouldn’t pay anything over retail plus shipping for it.

Did you manage to score anything from the Lilly for Target collection? What was your experience like? Let’s chat in the comments!