There’s a scene in Season Three of the HBO limited series, The White Lotus, where one of the central characters, Chloe (played by Charlotte Le Bon), shows up with the perfect trifecta: a signature pout, a chiseled jawline, and a necklace you’ve never seen anywhere else.
Perched right underneath a simple chain is a muted enamel portrait of Maggie Simpson, complete with a perfectly round red mouth.
The internet went wild. Was this a fashion easter egg? A foreshadowing of the finale? Reddit threads about the Simpsons episode where Maggie Simpson shoots Mr. Burns (he survives, btw) predicted that Chloe might be a secret assassin. Mike White’s show always throws in a lot of wild cards, so fans squeeze onto any content lifeboat where there’s room.
The Maggie Simpson necklace story is better than any type of foreshadowing. When listening to the WhoWhatWear podcast with the show’s costume designer, Alex Bovaird, I learned about the piece’s provenance: a 12-year-old jewelry designer named Lily.
I had so many questions and started by contacting Lily’s mom, Emily Girvin. The former actor/model and now-body worker and art collector lives with her husband and two daughters in Nashville. Lily and her mom spoke with me from the family art studio in their backyard, sitting together on a couch. Lily was reserved yet thoughtful. She’s been making jewelry for a long time. When she started learning silversmithing, Lily wanted to make a necklace depicting Moe, Springfield’s resident bartender. Her teacher suggested she choose another character. Maybe someone less alcoholic?
But Maggie? Lily was practical about it. “I wanted to create something that would not hurt my hand. I was mistaken because that necklace hurt my hands a lot.” The Simpsons is playing constantly in the background in the family home, especially when she is making art.
When Lily describes her creative process, she’s very methodical in her explanation. “I hammered out the design on a piece of brass, stamped the eyes, and then made a circle for the mouth out of a piece of silver. Then I added red enamel and a hole on top for the chain. Soldering came last.”
When costume designer Alex Bovaird, a family friend, came over for dinner around Christmas 2023, she was intrigued and asked Lily if she could take it to The White Lotus shoot in Thailand. Lily, then ten years old, was not about to give up her original. So they agreed that Lily would create three more necklaces and mail them to Thailand.
No one really thought too much more about it. That is, until Alex gave Emily the heads-up that the necklace made the final cut
.“It's so tricky,” says Emily. “I can't even tell you how proud I am as a mom. I think it was so good for her self-esteem, but then, at the same time, I think it would be tricky as a young artist to get that much recognition. It puts so much pressure on other things that you make after that. So we've just tried to keep kind of right-sized about things.”
Lily (obviously) didn’t watch the show, but her parents called her into their room and paused the episode when her necklace appeared. “It was pretty cool,” she shrugs.
And then came the onslaught; everyone wanted to buy this thing.
Emily seems like the perfect mix of chill and tiger. She wants her kid to experience things, but not at the cost of other people’s insanity.
“So we kind of knew that this could happen. But then, all of a sudden. It was like, ‘Oh, shoot. Here it is.’ ”
Emily and her husband Mike, decided Lily could create a limited edition of 50 necklaces. Lily and her dad “were working their tails off for three weeks straight, around the clock to make that happen.” They sold out in less than an hour.
Emily knew that the fever wouldn’t die down for a while, so she asked Leah Rae Cunningham, Lily’s original jewelry teacher, if she would be interested in fabricating the necklace on a larger scale. “I do think it’s important to recognize teachers in all of this.”
They worked out a small agreement so Lily receives a small percentage of profits.
“We put the money into a college fund for an art school.”
Lily looks at her mom, “and maybe a little for taxidermy?”
“Yes, maybe a little taxidermy,” her mom nods. The artist has clearly moved on to new mediums. Lily started making jewelry at age 3: “bracelets and necklaces and stuff.” Her younger sister Lucy (by only 14 months) would always handle the money. Already a hustler, Lucy would tell Lily, “No, you need to ask for $3.00, not $1.00.”
Then came sewing. Lily started taking lessons in the first grade, right in the middle of COVID.
“And she was like ‘Mom, we've got to go to Joann's.’ She picked out this fabric and then made a dress for Ellie Holcomb, a local musician and the mom of a kid she was going to school with. And she just did it all by hand.”
“Now I’m into masks,” Lily adds. She uses a mix of feathers, found materials, paint, Mod Podge to create large face masks for her friends.
“I guess I’m just having fun.”
Many thanks to Lily and her mom Emily for sitting down with me and sharing their story. You can buy your own Maggie Simpson necklace here.
I’m always especially interested in the parents of young artists. How do they encourage their children but also keep them grounded? In Part II, Emily shares her story.
Until then, take care of your hearts.