By Arden Eiland
Photo courtesy of Lilly Sisto’s Instagram. Collage made by Arden Eiland.
Lilly Sisto, Class of 2017, returns to campus to speak on recent career success in the fashion industry. Having graduated with degrees in corporate communications, public affairs, and fashion media, Sisto now is a full-time influencer based in New York City. SMU Look Media is hosting the panel “Female Founders in Fashion” on Tuesday November 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the Jones Grand Atrium located in the Owens Arts Center on campus.
“I learned so much at SMU, from everything in the fashion world to life and it’s there that I figured out what I wanted to do in life,” Sisto said in an interview with Maddie Crisp for SMU Look magazine in 2023, “I took amazing fashion media classes that pushed me in that direction”.
After having amassed over 65,000 followers on TikTok and 102,000 on Instagram, Lilly Sisto has become an internet sensation. Sharing her favorite new purchases, Outfit of The Day looks, to lifestyle videos there is much that Sisto shares with her online following. Sisto will be joined on stage by Fallon Bock of Fallon B by Bachendorfs, Kasey Lemkin of Partlow, Lindsay Perper of Shop Rodeo, Sai Sankoh of Sai Sankoh, and Tinsley Merrill Paul of HerStory. Admission is free and all are welcome.
This week Sisto is also launching a collaboration with Dillard’s on her first collection this Thursday, November 14th at 10 a.m. CST. The collection will be shoppable in both Dillard’s stores and on Dillard’s website. In what Sisto states in a recent Instagram post, this collection encapsulates her “dream capsule wardrobe for fall/winter season”. The Lilly Sisto for Gianni Bini collection features sixteen pieces ranging from dresses, skirts, socks, shoes, and more. These timeless wardrobe pieces were created with her “tomboy chic style”, Sisto’s Instagram states.
While this is not Sisto’s first time working alongside fashion companies, this is her first product line designed entirely by herself. Sisto collaborated in 2023 with long-time friend and co-panelist for SMU Looks panel, Tinsley Merrill Paul, founder of HerStory on the revival of a Miguelina silk and lace cami.
“Tinsley gifted me this vintage Miguelina Gambaccini top last Christmas and I’ve never taken it off and knew we had to bring it back from the archives,” Sisto said on an Instagram post announcing the collaboration in November 2023.
Upon Sisto’s graduation from SMU, she started her career moving to Los Angeles to work in public relations for Haney, a ready-to-wear label founded by Mary Alice Haney. Sisto then moved to New York City and worked for Tory Burch continuing her career in Corporate Fashion Public Relations before moving over to LoveShackFancy. Working at LoveShackFancy as the associate director of VIP relations, press and partnerships, Sisto was able to grow her following and do styling on the side.
“It’s really inspiring getting to have SMU alums who are so successful in the fields many of us aspire to join after graduation to look up to and learn from,” Davis Sinnott, a current fashion media student at SMU states.
For the chance to meet Lilly Sisto, join us on campus at the SMU Look panel on Tuesday November 12th at 6:30 p.m. or at NorthPark Mall in Dallas at Dillard’s on Thursday, November 14th at 11 am.
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