The Lake Forest Shop

Who exactly are they trying to cater to? $ 860 for a plain white blouse is outrageous for anyone, I feel like! Even if you’re looking just to spend money for no reason…
We were looking for a mother-​of-​the-​bride dress, but the saleswoman working there explained to us that this season (late December/​early January) is between seasons. In February, she said, there would be a show with all the designers and they’d be able to do some more custom designed work. But some of the plainest dresses I’ve seen were close to $ 2000. Sure they were formal, but they looked really quite like a lot of bridesmaid dresses we’ve seen that were 10% of that price!
I feel as well like they misrepresent their selection online, with all the designers they list there. They didn’t even have that many dresses when we went to the store! Plus it seems like you might need an appointment from the information on the website, which is just not true. It’s just a store. A beyond-​expensive store.

I’ll go ahead and first put it out there that I’m not an old money north shore lady in my 50s. I think that $ 800 is an insane price to spend on a sweater, even it was woven from the hair of an alpaca that was hand-​plucked by virgins holding a single pair tweezers. Or whatever story justifies a price tag like that. Anyway, places like this just make me uncomfortable.
The staff at the Lake Forest Shop also struck me as almost entirely bonkers. Most seemed unhappy at least, and definitely a little off.
However, if you need a fabulous gown on short notice and won’t shudder at an astronomical price, this is a place you can go to get that done. Alterations and all. My mother picked out the dress that she wore to my wedding off the rack at the Lake Forest Shop on September 2^nd for a wedding on September 18^th. She tried it on 3 times, held it for 4 days until I flew in, and then had me see her in it before she bought it because of the sticker. (I was thinking something with a motor in it should come with the dress.) But to be fair, my mom has not looked that good in a dress since her wedding to my stepfather. She looked just bangin’. The dress took 15 years off of her, easily. I think she deserved to spoil herself like that. She’s earned it.
My mom is petite, so they had to bring up the skirt and tighten the neckline around her back, but nothing major. After my mom picked up the dress, she got a frantic call from her alterations specialist about a thread. When she talked to alterations, she told her to bring back the dress. This was the Wednesday before the wedding. My mom was busy all morning with runs to the airport and getting her hair done. I took back the dress when I was supposed to be getting my marriage license.
Turns out there was a miscommunication, and nothing was wrong with the dress. The ladies at the front desk were laughing about it as if it were funny. That just ticked me off. Maybe some people who come into that store have nothing but time on their hands, but that isn’t me, and it definitely wasn’t me the week of my wedding. They supposedly found something with the zipper they wanted to fix, though, which they did in 15 minutes or so.
If you’re LF and proud and need a fabulous dress, this is definitely a store for you. It’s just not quite the store for me.