Lilly Pulitzer is upping the ante this season with an archival revival. But first, a preview of what the #resort365 has in store with this get-up that is so obviously inspired by the early 1970s:
the lilly pulitzer spring summer 2026 archival revival
I am unwell in the very best way, as a response to the Lilly Pulitzer Spring/Summer 2026 Archival Revival. The show took place in Key West and kicked off with a young lady running down the length of the runway in a vintage Lilly shift, holding an armful of fabric, mimicking the photograph of Lilly herself exiting a plane.
This collection marks a year since the Men’s Stuff relaunch. And the Men’s Stuff shown in the Archival Revival was fine; status quo for what was established last year. Lots of Mizner-esque pants and Flagler-ish blazers, rounded out with the Addison Shirt and the Devonn Polo Sweater. The seasonal new-ness is limited to a pair of printed shorts, but I am not so sure that they were not offered since the relaunch.
On the other hand, the women’s selection is absolutely flaring. The throwbacks are not limited to Vintage Vault prints because baby, the design team at the purveyor of preppy resort wear was absolutely mining vintage archives for 1960s design codes that they could bring back for today.
Not to call myself an expert on vintage Lilly Pulitzer, but yes, I, Lucinda Degerlund, actually am. I extensively researched tag provenance and beyond that, fabric content, from the 1960s until now.
And you know that I scoop up vintage Lilly Pulitzer in my sizes tout de suite!
I found so many motifs in Spring Summer 2026 that I spotted shopping for vintage Lilly Pulitzer from the secondary market. As someone who can never find the best vintage stuff in my measurements, I am all in on this collection. These are my favorite looks from the Lilly Pulitzer SS 2026 Archival Revival:
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Save for the opening frock featured on the young lady dashing across the runway with armfuls of printed fabric, this set kicked off the fashion show. While vertical crochet is a hallmark of Lilly Pulitzer styles of today, the horizontal crochet is what really makes it emblematic of vintage styles.
While I love this set, I do not think it is suited for the six foot tall frame and up, at least those of us on the rough side of forty years old. Exception: If the skirt is actually a skort, bring it on.
This dress recalls a laser cut dress I bought circa 2017, wore on during my bachelorette party weekend and again, wore during the summer of 2018. I love that as opposed to the scuba fabric overlay featured on the dress of 2017, this dress has more of a white crochet overlay which speaks to the heritage of the brand.
It is difficult to judge from how it hangs on the model, not knowing her height and all, but I suspect this dress would fall too short for my comfort. While I wish this would work for my tall frame, I am working from the assumption that it would be too short.
The weaving on the bottom of the skirt of this set, I mean, can we talk? That design detail is everything and though it is certainly not a vintage Lilly Pulitzer callback, it is reminiscent of the cage dress trend circa 2010. I was not hyper on trend enough fifteen years ago to indulge in that, but guess what?
I am ready to indulge in this entire set now.
This mini caftan is it. While there were several caftans in maxi length (this post, page down to the runway looks, attention to look [4] and look [32]), but to be clear never hit the intended length on me, in last year’s runway, I was never moved to make the buy even during the copious sales over the past six months.
I might go rogue and buy this mini-ish style to wear poolside, beachside, boat side, anywhere waterside where I can layer it over a Marysia suit, really.
This dress is too damn good not to throw in cart and check out immediately.
Vintage maxi dresses are a struggle to find on the secondary market, and I can never find any in my size. (If you are a size four, hoo-boy are you in luck. Check out my latest vintage edit.)
Everything about this dress screams 1960s Palm Springs. Give me a dry gin martini and sit my ass down under a yellow scalloped umbrella.
Don’t I have this dress already? Yes, yes I do.
This is a style that was released in a yellow/green and a blue/pink color way for the spring of 2025. It is a shift with a wraparound long skirt. Once it hit sale, I incessantly stalked my size until it became available (that happens sometimes during Lilly sales, donchaknow) and bam, that baby was hanging up in my closet just waiting for sprint 2026.
I do love this dress though and had I not caught the color way I did, I would be shoving this dress in my virtual cart.
The slightest vintage callback detail is one that I initially missed…more than once. This braided detail is a callback to Lilly Pulitzer of the 1970s. I can find several of these on the secondary market, alas never in my size.
Peep that subtle braided trim looped toward the waist and running down the left leg of the skirt. Skort? Unclear.
Should this be a skort, I am in.
It has been a second since I have clocked this exact crochet trim; I believe it was on the short sleeve shift dress from the Goop collaboration.
This maxi skirt is it, though. The print looks like a version of the coconut print currently in the omnichannel store.
Eff me up and add in the sheer blouse because I love a set.
This style is ripped from vintage archives. Note the crochet trim at the wrist and bottom hems and the exaggerated round neckline. It is totally giving 1970s.
Not for me, but I appreciate the adherence to the vintage Carol Brady spirit.
Excuse moi? A maxi romper? Sign me up. I love the one I bought last spring and I love this one too.
Why would I buy another? Let’s talk the green colorway, in lieu of the muted pink (with, okay, green), and the square neckline, in lieu of the round. Like my first maxi romper, I might wait for this one to go on sale prior to pulling the trigger.
The final dress is a call back to both the 1960s with the cross crochet, as explained in the first dress of the show and the Jubilee collection.
Yes, that is a deep cut from the 50th anniversary of the Lilly Pulitzer brand. So much of that collection was dominated by two tone color block shift dresses that clearly inspired this particular style.
This is one of the best pieces from the collection, hence being the last lewk of the show.
the lookbook from the lilly pulitzer spring summer 2026 archival revival runway
