LILL Bit about the Summer Interns

LILL is excited to introduce you to three of our summer interns!

Hey LILLers!

My name is Sibei, I am one of the summer marketing interns for 1154 LILL Studio and cannot be any more excited for a summer filled with fashion, colors, designs and friendship with the other interns!

My first impression of LILL was how all the colors, prints, and shapes popped out and brought out the extra-girliness and femininity hidden within me. All of the bags and fabric samples totally hyped up my creative juices. Not to mention everyone here is super nice, fun, and colorful, just like the totes bags we sell!

This Spring I attended the University of Chicago Women in Business Conference and met Jen, the founder of LILL. As she was talking about her business, I became engaged in the idea of designing your own bag and especially liked how the company represents women empowerment. I decided that LILL is not only a place to gain marketing, design, and entrepreneurial experience, but is also a place where I could work in a field I love (I know it may sound cheesy, but it’s true!).

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My name is Alison Heine and I am one of the new marketing interns at 1154 LILL Studio. LILL is such a great company and an amazing place to get some practical marketing and fashion experience at the same time. The fun colors, prints and designs of LILL bags definitely reflect the personalities of everyone here!
I recently graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans. The past four years of my life consisted of meeting amazing friends, enjoying the Big Easy, as well as graduating with high honors in Marketing, Management and Sociology. After my internship with LILL I am headed off to Sydney, Australia to work, travel, and have the time of my life before I really have to head into the real world.
Now that I am at LILL, the other interns and I are focusing on exposing the company and their great bags to the college market. During our amazing summer internship we will keep you updated with new designs, fun happenings, and other news at LILL.

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Hello ladies!!!! My name is DeVonna and I am one of theMarketing Interns at LILL. I’m entering my junior year at Syracuse University with a double major in Marketing and Human Resources (lots of work!).I am SUPER excited to be here for 8 weeks!!! Because I am a college student, I have a great insight and a fresh outlook on how LILL can reach the college market. This should be a really fun project and an awesome experience for me, not to mention the great networking and connections I am gaining.

On my first day I got to suggest fabrics for the “Erinn” clutch to be used in a showroom for celebrity stylists to choose from. It was so much fun because I actually got to be involved in the design aspect of the business. So far, I am enjoying being part of the team here. Everyone in the office is so friendly, and I admire their professional mannerisms as well. The interior design of the office is really fun and creative! My favorite thing about interning at LILL is getting exposure in the fashion industry. I’ve always LOVED handbags/accessories (I’m borderline obsessed). I have over 75 handbags and totes, so learning more about the design and production sides of the business is an added bonus. During my internship I hope to learn more about the trends in fashion accessories and how they change over time.

So you will be hearing from us lots more throughout the next few weeks. We are all absolutely ECSTACTIC to be interning at LILL!!!

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

Jillian Harris shown sporting LILL bag!

Jillian Harris was featured in the March 15th edition of OK! Magazine carrying our stylish Erinn clutch! Jillian looked gorgeous at Molly & Jason's Bachelor Wedding! We couldn't be more thrilled to have her as such a loyal customer! If you'd like to design your very own Erinn bag, just like Jillian's just go to our website http://www.1154lill.com/ and start designing! The Erinn is the perfect accessory for the upcoming wedding season!

Winner # 4

Our fourth party host winner is Alex Brown. We had a little email mix up, so it took a little longer to get her notified and get her responses to our questions... But, she was thrilled to hear that she had won our drawing after hosting a party with our San Francisco rep, Jenn. The bags ordered at her party were just received by her guests and were met with rave reviews! One of the attendees at her party loved it so much she just hosted her own this past Thursday. Here are Alex's responses to our questions:

How did you first hear about 1154 LILL?
"I cannot remember how I first heard about 1154 LILL. I believe it was through a friend who lived in Chicago. I was there visiting in 2005 and my friend and went to the store there. I believed we designed about 6 bags for our friends and family. We were having such a great time with all the fabrics and the different styles. Throughout the years, I have continued to visit the Chicago and Boston stores and always find time to create a bag."

What is the best party about hosting an 1154 LILL party?
"The best part about hosting was having 1154 LILL come to you. It was nice to have a group of friends around chatting and catching up while being creative and designing bags. Having Jenn come to my house really made things easy, and it was a stress free way of getting the ladies together for something different than just cocktails. We actually talked about doing one of these parties back in August while on a bachelorette trip but finally got around to doing it in January. Better late than never."

What is your favorite 1154 LILL style?
"My favorite style bag the Andi. I think it is the perfect size to be able to put everything in your purse. My mother and sister designed one in Boston a couple years back, and I was so jealous of the end result that I ended up having to borrow the bag long term. Another great one is Christie. I take it on every vacation I have. I just love how great everything fits in there and how easy it is to clean especially the inside."

What would you like to see 1154 LILL do in the future?
"As for 1154 LILL in the future, I think keep up what you are doing. I think people have been spreading the word and you make good quality products that was is not to love about it. I did enjoy that you have added new products i.e. the Pillows. I think that is definitely a good idea. Overall, I think if you were to try to open another store perhaps somewhere out on the west coast you would have great success with it."

Thank you for hosting and enjoy your new Maddie Jane Design A Bag Kit!

Best,
Jen