Summer is here, and we’re so excited for what’s to come. June was a busy month for us in the Valley as Jillian has officially made the move to the quaint Borough of Naugatuck, Connecticut! July currently has us adjusting to a new home office space that has a home for all three JLD brands. Aside from the move, business has been booming!

Jillian Lyons Designs has now become it’s own separate entity, working exclusively with small businesses of all sizes, helping them to market, brand and build their social media presence. We are pleased to announce our newest member of the Jillian Lyons Designs team, Ashley Taylor. As our Administrative Specialist she works hard on helping to create our marketing, posting to our social media, and helping to keep our office up to speed and our deadlines met. She possesses a great interest in both vintage and contemporary fashion as well as blogging. We look forward to seeing what creativity she brings to JLD and it's sister brands, Valley Vintage and The Red Queen.

We have also recently teamed with the film Aaron’s Light, a film about one Autistic man’s journey to reach his dreams, all the way to Yale University. Donations are currently being accepted for this groundbreaking movie that will be filmed entirely at Yale. Please consider making a donation to this film, we strongly feel it will make a difference for people with disabilities.

Valley Vintage is pleased to announce that last year’s beloved Summer sale is back! That’s right -- The Magical Summer Sale -- from July 18th, until August 15th, 2016, save 40% on all festival wear, denim, groovy 60s fashions and summer inventory! Continue to check ValleyVintageLLC.etsy.com regularly for updates. Find some of your favorite Vintage Summer pieces now! We will be featuring new inventory daily during our sale.

Our newest brand, The Red Queen, has now officially started to feature its latest products at The Mad Hatter & Co. shop in Bennett Square at 41-D Main Street South in Southbury, Connecticut! Our latest items are brought to you by Mystic Knotwork, Designer Dwellings, The Red Queen brand and more to come! Be sure to keep checking out our Facebook page for updates and new items and local brands available through The Red Queen! We’re so excited and hope that you are too!

All of us from the Valley thank you for your loyalty, support, and your business. If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to email Jillian directly at JIanBoutique@gmail.com for more information.

Have a wonderful Summer!
-- The Jillian Lyons Designs Family

This was a long thought about decision. After all, Jillian Lyons Designs came from a sentimental place for me. My business was found out of a hobby I was able to do from bed while going through treatment for Cancer. The hobby became a way for me to make a little extra money while on a forced hiatus from work. Eventually the little extra money became regular money and an actual business. But it's been a few years since my JLD little engine that could got started. The time had come to go bigger.

Doing work with PopUp55 last year in New Haven was a big jumping off point. It instilled in me a dream for something more. I went through 2 weeks of running my own pop up shop that I had to staff, run, plan events for and promote. It was like small biz boot camp. When I signed on with Mad Hatter and Co., it felt like the perfect place to experiment further with what owning a business could be like. What I learned from this is that I am not yet healthy enough to work in my own shop for the amount of hours I would need to to properly run my own boutique. The past few months have proven this again and again as I get my health back on track. And frankly, I just don't have the capital to keep up with how much I would have to pay out to staff my sick days alone.

So while I had more down time then usual, I started thinking about the future. What do I want. What seeds do I have to plant in order to make those future plans grow. If I had to be home in bed, I might as well put the time to good use! It started becoming more and more obvious. The answer was an online brand. One of the things I love about Mad Hatter is all of the interesting brands Joan Tarby and Angie Chernovetz manage to find and bring in. But my style is a tad different from them. The online brand idea expanded. Why not include some retail brands that I love. Not big brands. But the little guys. Indie businesses, other artists, small and local, USA made clothing in small batches. Cool. Unique. My kind of fashion.

The name The Red Queen is partially inspired by the Mad Hatter & Co. It's a name that folds neatly into the Wonderland aesthetic I love. Alice in Wonderland, it was always one of my favorites. But it also means something more. It's a sassy lady. A boss bitch. A queen that doesn't take shit. It seemed like the perfect name. It also eludes to my personal style which is inspired by all the fringe elements of culture. I consider myself to be a little bit of all of those things. Sassy. Daring. Punk rock. Goth chick. Alternative. Drag Queen (in my heart of hearts. I am a biological woman!) Costume lover. Artist. Experimental. Cosplay enthusiast. Nerdy girl. Naughty girl. Hippie chick. Opinionated bitch. Fashion diva. Alllll of it. The Red Queen is everything.


I am still slowly building the website and brand, as I continue to talk to more brands and sign contracts with the people I heart. So far we have Hemet clothing, Sacred Threads, Banned clothing, Kennedy London earrings, Roma Hollywood, some curations from Valley Vintage and more to come. It's an exciting time to see this come to fruition. You can view and shop the website now as we build. Please know we are still stocking inventory, so this is just a sneaky peek for the people who have been following me for all these years. Cause I heart you so much! <3 But the official launch will be in Spring or early Summer. Peek HERE. I'd love some feedback in the comments below. And if there is a brand you think we should be looking at, please also comment with links!

Coming Soon! The Frida Kahlo Maxi Dress! Taking pre-orders now!

In September of 1992 The Stone Temple Pilots album Core came out. Less then a year after Nirvana's Nevermind exploded into mainstream music. Alternative or Grunge had put a strangle hold on the air waves. A newly teen aged me had just come online to the sweet rockin' sounds of bands like these. I was obsessed. My friends and I were divided by the bands we loved. Were you an Alty Girl or a Riot Grrrl? I wrote the name of my favorite bands on my generic Chuck Taylor sneakers, as did my alternative gal pals. Emblazed was STP and Scott Weiland's name. I remember buying the retro STP embroidered patches from my local music store. Other girls obsessed over Gavin Rossdale in that decade. My friend Jenny and I preferred Weiland. This grinding, slithering, leather pants wearing Iggy Pop of grunge. One part Jim Morrison, one part soulful cowboy. Always bold as fuck.

So hearing about the death of Scott Weiland felt like one of the first real nails in the coffin of my childhood. The first being Robin Williams, my comedy hero. This was for sure the second one. Long gone are the days of staring at posters, cranking CDs and rocking out, waiting anxiously for them to come to my nearest city. I saw them during the Purple Tour at the New Haven Coliseum. Two things that will never happen again as both are officially gone. I'll never forget rocking out at that show, and then being wowed by the couch sitting acoustic set. It was one of my first concerts. My first ever rock concert. Many more followed, but this one, was the first.

You can't deny the guy had talent. I had never got into Velvet Revolver. Those albums came out during my "lost years" when I was poor, sick and sad. I watched the video for Slither and was like wow. Where the Hell was on this one?  I spent hours on YouTube watching videos. Remember. I forgot Sarah Michelle Gellar was in the video for Sour Girl. I forgot about all the awesome Letterman performances. Or that they did an MTV Unplugged, with awesome acoustic arrangements of some of their harder rock songs. Crazy man.

RIP Weiland. Goodbye teenage years. Thank you for making a depressed teenage girl a little less angsty. xoxox forever.

Some of my customers may remember a time when I sold some of my jewelry designs at a little shop in downtown Seymour, CT. It was called Mad Hatter Boutique. I loved selling in my home town. It was a great little shop. Since then Mad Hatter has regrouped. Joan Tarby, owner of Mad Hatter, has since partnered with Angie Chernovetz. She owned a little shop called Tangie's around the corner. I tell you this was a match made in Heaven!

Over the summer I received a message from Joan. She and Angie were starting a new shop in Southbury Connecticut. This time it would be a cooperative shop. They were inviting a curated selection of artists and vendors to join, share in the rent and responsibility of the space, creating a unique boutique. I was thrilled to join this amazing selection of women. This shop would be called Mad Hatter & Company.

The end result of this grouping features brands that Joan brings in such as Sugar Lips and Umm Gee clothing, scents by Margot Elena, items by JKC and more. Her daughter Meghan brings in a bit of retro flare with curated items under the business name Her Looking Glass - Anne Taintor, boutique gift items by  Demdaco as well as Kelly Rae Roberts. Angie's Treasures uses her creative touch to restore and repurpose vintage furniture, as well as bringing in creative and fun box signs and greeting cards. The shop also features artists such as Re-Designed by Elizabeth, who makes wine bottle lights and Redneck Wine Glasses. Alison Wonderland who creates original wire, enamel and beaded jewelry. BBA Bracelets, which in my opinion, makes some of the coolest stackable bracelets that she fittingly calls arm candy. We also have Bowtique by Alexa, seriously adorable bows and hair accessories for women and children. She also takes custom orders and prints her own fabrics! Black Tabby Studio who makes the most adorable little cards for just $1 each or in bundle packs by occasion! She also makes very clever mugs. Lastly, there is me. Jillian Lyons Designs. I make beaded and rhinestone and vintage inspired jewelry, I also brought in my new line, JK, which is all faerie and nature inspired jewelry and terrariums. I take custom orders using the shop as home base if you'd like local pick up. I work behind the counter quite a bit and even lend a loving hand to the shops social media promotion. In the fall I am looking forward to bringing in my wearable wings for costumes and fun!

Below you can find some images of this gorgeous collaborative shop. The inventory literally changes every few days. It never looks the same twice.









Mad Hatter & Company is located at 134 Main Street South in Bennett Square, Southbury Connecticut. We are open Tuesday - Friday 10am - 5pm, Saturday 10am - 4pm and Sunday 10am - 3pm. Regular photo posts of new inventory go onto the Mad Hatter & Co. Facebook page! See something you love? Send us a message! We will hold, and ship!

My business tends to feel like the Little Engine That Could. Every time I think I am down and out, something in me pushes and says I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! Then, somehow, I do. My last post was how, on the verge of closing, Jillian Lyons Designs turned it around thanks to Project Storefronts and Sassy Mouth Photography. Now we are emerging with a brand new line of products, unlike what I have made in the past.

This year #NYCC was being held on the weekend of my birthday. And in true Lyons fashion we made it a family affair! I didn't know we were even going until about two weeks prior to the event, when my step momma presented us with 2 three day passes and said my Dad and baby sister Rosamarie were coming too! 

I quickly contacted my bestie Aimee in Queens, who kindly let us crash with her and her boyfriend Evan! Then spent the 10 days prior to the show trying to create a plus size friendly costume using without spending more than $20. I decided to be The Phoenix, Jean Greys super hero / super villain of the Xmen. Of course with my own twist!

I made a mask crusted with green and gold glitter. I turned my old black combat boots into metallic gold glittery boots, I made a matching glitter Phoenix emblem for my chest out of clay. Also sculpted one out of clay for my waistband. (It unfortunately got sacrificed to the con Gods. Broke off when I got smushed between a bunch of other cosplayers in the crowd!) I couldn't find long gold gloves, so I bought a cheap pair in white and dyed them using a few Sharpies and rubbing alcohol. A green shirt that I loved worked as my costume base. Being plus sized and not being one to show too much skin, I felt this was both effective and pretty. So lastly I added a gold undershirt, leggings and I was done! 

More pictures to come of our favorite costumes and moments in Part 2!!! 

I am convinced, if Andy Warhol were alive today he would have not only loved, but like INVENTED Instagram. It's the ultimate most self serving form of Pop Art. Instantaneous gratification. Play by plays of the Factory. Constant modern art uploads by Warhol. Andygram could have been amazing.

I recently went through a creative rut. I started focusing on my newly formed Valley Vintage business and spending time building it. But in that time my little personal bank of ideas was just empty. With Halloween on it's way, one of my very favorite times of year, I felt like I needed to do something to motivate myself. Jillian Lyons Designs was kind of depending on it. So I decided to challenge myself to use the awesome power of Instagram and post a picture a day, every day, no exception. It's been 9 days so far. Doing a picture a day has forced me to get off my ass and make art in some way. I'll tell you, the flood gate of ideas is open and flowing.

It's been amazing so far! No matter where I am, if it pops in my head I pull items together and make it happen. It's also forced me to use things around me to make these things happen. Things I've made. Stuff around the house. Random things around me. It's forced me to get out more into the world when I want to do something more nature involved. Creative on the quick! I highly recommend it.

So in less then 2 weeks. My own Andygram (Jillygram?) has snowballed into the creation of two photo collections I am hoping to create prints from. 1) Dia de los Muertes which feature Dick Dangers & myself modeling masks I made. I am hoping to create a story from these images. And 2) Valley of the Dolls, which will feature me (again!) and hopefully other friends, fam or models, recreating famous images and scenes from my all time favorite book and camp classic flick - Valley of the Dolls!

Some exclusive images just for the blog from my Insta-shoots are below. You can see my actual Instagram feed here. I'm also using #apictureaday as well! Follow me to see my new image each day. My goal is to do it for a month. (Maybe even pushing it further to do it for an entire year!)

I never did post the rest of my photo series with Julia Karen & Abstract Koncepts. We've actually had a second photo shoot since then focusing on my collection of vintage clothing from Valley Vintage. After receiving a rather surprising Anonymous comment, I thought maybe it might be time to post more.

The dress featured has since been sold. The wings however are still available.

There has been a few deaths in affecting my life recently. I guess that is all the more reason to come back to this angel session.

The little girl featured here was playing in the park the day we took the pictures. Her Dad allowed her to join us. I can't credit her, simply because I don't know her name. I just know she is from the area.

The idea behind this is that Wednesday passes her power on to this little angel. When she touches her, the littlest angel comes into color - and into her own.

Here we go.

















Photos by: Abstract Koncepts & Jillian Lyons Designs
Model: Julia Karen
Hair and Make Up: Julia Karen & Jillian Lyons Designs