Don’t worry about walking down the street and seeing someone else wearing an identical Lilly Pittman Designs jacket because every piece is hand painted to be one of a kind.
Lilly Pittman Designs is the brain child of Auburn University student Lilly Pittman, sophomore with a double major in graphic design and apparel design.
Pittman’s personal style strongly influenced her first jacket designs with their bright colors and contrasting patterns. She describes her style as monochromatic decades, a self-coined term that she said perfectly embodies her look.
“I’m influenced by a lot of decades,” Pittman said. “I love the ‘60s, ‘70s and the hippie vibe, which a lot of people tell me I dress like a hippie.”
The first jacket she ever created actually came to her in a dream when trying to think of a good birthday present for her best friend.
“Once I made the jacket, she really liked it and said I should make a business out of it, and I thought that sounded cool,” Pittman said.
She then designed six more hand-painted jackets before launching an Instagram page,with the handle @lillypittmandesigns, where Pittman and her friends model the jackets she creates.
Even her brand logo was created by hand, sporting the pattern of her first ever jacket. The original jacket’s pattern was influenced by an abstract painting The Beatles did in July of 1966 called “Images of a Woman.”
The Beatles have been an inspiration to Pittman since she was a little girl.
“I have done two Beatles jackets so far, a Sgt. Pepper-inspired one and my first jacket that was inspired by the painting,” Pittman said.
Rock bands have been a recent muse for her designs, and she is able to keep in touch with that ‘60s and ‘70s vibe since most classic rock bands hail from that era.
“Currently, I’m working on two Led Zeppelin jackets; one is actually for the country singer Sara Evans,” Pittman said.
With Pittman’s business growing in popularity, it’s natural to wonder if she plans on expanding her line. However, for now, Pittman explains it as purely a creative outlet for college rather than a life-long profession.
She enjoys the, slow yet, steady flow of customers since it gives her time to fully dedicate herself creatively to a specific jacket while still focusing on school work.
“The jackets take about 15 to 20 hours a piece,” said Pittman.
Each jacket is hand painted by Pittman, which is what makes the process so lengthy.
If a customer wants to purchase a jacket but doesn’t see one on her site they particularly like, she will also do custom orders.
The customer will give her an idea of what they want their jacket to look like, and Pittman will draw up a design to send to them to see if that is what they envisioned.
Once the design is approved, Pittman searches for a jacket to fit the look she is trying to go for.
“My first resource is usually thrift stores, and if I can’t find one at the thrift store, I’ll look online,” Pittman said.
She then gets to work on creating the jacket by doing the entire design in pencil for preciseness then going over that with several layers of paint.
Once the jacket is complete, she wraps it up for delivery with a card holding care instructions and her favorite Bible verse, Ephesians 4:32.
In the future, Pittman hopes to have a job in fashion where she is able to look at styles of the past and recreate them for modern apparel.
This business has been a way for her to begin doing that now while offering a new unique market for jackets.
“Denim jackets have been around forever, and it’s really unique to find one that is custom and catered to you,” Pittman said.
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