Reuniting with Friends!

A couple weeks ago, I went to a reunion weekend of college friends. We met up on our old campus - Drake University - and stayed in our former sorority house for the weekend. (Check out the pic of some of the group on the "anchor" in front of the Delta Gamma house). About half of our pledge class was able to attend. With songs from our senior year playing on an iPod - it felt like yesterday. What a great time! We caught up on life as friends arrived in the newly updated "upper liv" as it was called in my day. Facebook had reconnected us and spurred this weekend reunion. As a bonus, it also helped introduce my business to the women I went to with, but had lost touch with over the years.



I was flattered to see many of my "sisters" whom I had not seen in years sporting LILL bags as they arrived. As the collection of bags grew, it was fun to talk about each one and how each person had come to own their "LILL bag." There was Theresa with her CHARLIE (she had also designed her daughter a matching CHLOE), Ally with her DONNA, Kris with her MAGGIE, DENISE and ANNE, Polly with her SANDRA and DENISE, Wendy with her HADLEY.... I was sporting a bag from our new LINKS Collection - the LEXIE. Over the weekend I changed my LEXIE up to become a shoulder bag, a messenger bag and a backpack. It was the perfect bag for all of the weekend activities!

I loved reconnecting with this group of old friends. It reminded me of the fun you can have when you get a group of women together and start talking style. It was fun to get ready to go out in our old "big dorm" and "small dorm" bathrooms, to try on various outfits and accessories and get your girlfriend's opinion. And while it wasn't a weekend about bags or LILL at all, it reaffirmed the root of our business - women love to help each other design and be stylish. Get a group of women together; add bags and fabrics and you are guaranteed a good time. We hope to make this an annual event and next time, a LILL ON LOCATION party is definitely on the agenda!

Fabric Update

Hello all from Chicago! I just returned from a fabric show in North Carolina and have some exciting trends to report. First of all, the fabric manufacturers are really sticking to the pantone color pallet this fall, www.pantone.com Turquoise is still a hot color, but paired with a more muted/toned down grayish brown. Yellow and grey are still big, but the yellow is more of a golden yellow, aka coin yellow. I also noticed a lot of fuchsia, dusty rose, and dull purple. This fall will definitely feel warmer and less drab with these brighter colors, which is great for our long Chicago winters. Ikat is still around and we added a few for Fall, one named The Green Mill, (a bar in Chicago all you city girls should check out) and a black one that will be here in August - name to be determined. Another one of my favorites for the upcoming Fall/Winter is hounds tooth. We picked up a black flocked version (everyone loves flocking) that is very sophisticated and classy. I think this fabric will be a huge hit. Well, that’s it for now. I’ll keep you updated on the new fabrics coming to LILL!

Adrienne