As you may have picked up from my post yesterday mentioning my Lilly Pulitzer dresseS, I’m a big fan.  I was a little late to the game and didn’t really get hooked on Lilly’s designs until about 5 or 6 years ago, but when I did discover them, I fell in L-O-V-E.

I think it’s the constant thought of summer. The bright colors.  And of course, the fact that there is so much pink and green.  Which I am obsessed with in general.

The only thing about Lilly?  It’s so freakin’ expensive!  I drooled over dresses in the store for a long time, but could never bring myself to spend that kind of money on what is essentially a sun dress.  Eventually I bought my first one.  To wear to my A’s bridal shower – and other places of course. 

Not long after that there was some sort of clearance show or something at a local hotel and there was supposed to be a lot of Lilly.  Well, really what it was was a bunch of golf shops liquidating their out of season items.  It was mostly golf and tennis-type clothes, but I got a couple of cute polos and skirts.  While I was there, I heard one of the vendors say that whatever he didn’t sell here, he would throw on eBay.  Which of course meant that I went home and immediately started searching for Lilly up for auction.  I had never thought of that before.

Since then, that’s where I’ve bought several Lilly items.  There is so much stuff on there that is ‘new with tags’ and at some really great prices (like my dress from yesterday – although, that was an exceptional sale).

Over the past several years, the prices in the stores have really gone up.  I’d say when I bought my first dress, I paid about $180 or so.  And the prices seemed to range from about $150 – $250 for the dresses.  Now when I wander into a store or browse the website, they all seem to be more like $280 – $400 depending on what you’re looking at. 

Holy crap, that is a lot of money!

In the frequent Lilly emails I get (because I can’t seem to bring myself to unsubscribe) and in the blogging world, I heard that Martha Stewart was doing an entire show celebrating Lilly Pulitzer.  Oh, how I wish I could have been there.

Instead, I had to settle watching it on DVR last night.  Quite a fun show, saw some cool stuff.  The design director was on for a bit talking about how they come up with the different patterns, etc.  Then they did a mini fashion show showcasing some of the new summer patterns.

At one point Martha turns to the design director and asks, “How reasonable are these clothes?”

She responds, “oh I think they’re very reasonable.”

WTF, are you on drugs?

Martha asks, “about how much would [the dress on the model] cost?”

“Umm, about $300.”

Martha: “Oh, so very reasonable.”

Holy crap.  Not only are you calling them reasonable, but you’re saying they’re very reasonable?!

I guess maybe it is reasonable for the kind of people who spend thousands on a designer dresses and hundreds on designer jeans.

And although I always complain how broke I am, I can at least appreciate what is reasonable for just an average type person even if I don’t have the money to spend on it. 

And also?  When all you hear on the news is about the unemployment rate increasing and people foreclosing and how, on World News Tonight they mentioned that even the world’s billionaires are feeling the pinch – how can you say that a $300 dress is reasonable?

So, Martha and miss Lilly Pulitzer design director, yes the clothes are absolutely freakin gorgeous and I wish my entire closet was filled with all Lilly and only Lilly – but no, they are most certainly NOT reasonable.

But, if you’d like to offer me a shopping spree, I’d be willing to say that they were.