LF
- Nearest Transit:
Hynes Convention Ctr/ica (Green)
- Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
25 Reviews for LF
This store needs to be cheaper (at least by 50%) so I can afford it. I really like their clothes, even though the material doesn't seem like it would last long. I went in during one of their megasales, but the selection doesn't seem anywhere as good as during non-sale season.
If paying top-dollar for your wardrobe, regardless of the quality, is your thing, or if you prefer to have others dictate your personal style, then this shop is perfect. I pulled the "20-second walk in, walk out" maneuver on my first--and LAST--visit to LF. The prices are just outrageous, especially for basic cotton tops and dresses that couldn't possibly have cost a lot to make (is there a Forever 21 in Boston yet? I bet you could find a lot of these same styles there for a fraction of the price). And why are the sales so insane? It's because the clothes are actually dirt cheap to make, and LF milks you with super-high markups for the majority of the season. As a consumer, that kind of stuff is a huge turn-off, and there's no way I can justify spending that much.
And maybe it's because I'm not a fan of recent trends, but LF puts some crazy ugly outfits together, and they really force them to seem chic and marketable. It also doesn't help that these days, no matter how much your instincts hate the way something looks, once it gets onto the pages of any style mag, it becomes the holy grail of fashion and soon every girl must have fur-lined Ugg boots and a mini skirt PRONTO! Anyway, long story short, don't waste your money or your own unique fashion sense. End rant.
Oh LF.
One day when I'm old and wrinkly I will have finally saved up the money,after a life of dedication and hard work, to buy a wardrobe from your hallowed halls.
Unfortunately, I will also have missed that four year window of opportunity where I would actually wear these quirky, tiny, sometimes completely ridiculous and ill fitting pop culture hand me downs, designed for midget girls with respectable trust funds.
That day will be sweet. Until then you will please refrain from advertising 75% off sales that reduce your clothing from $300 to a cool $75. Yes, that is still too expensive for a linen ruffled shirt with a threadless hem. Thank you.
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Like everyone else has said, the prices are crazy when they are not having a sale, but the sales are INSANE!
Find out when they are and buy everything, major steals on great jackets, dresses and sweaters from all kinds of great casual designers that are usually priced a little bit on the ridiculous side.
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This is for Gabriella L.
I am also a former employee of LF, and my feelings on the clothing & company are very different from yours. If i were still a part of the company, i would try to take legal action against you for your completely false and very very misleading claims.
My view on the situation is if you have the wrong information, dont pretend like you know what's really going on. In fact, LF's LA based brands are made in LA, in LA factories. LF is one of the FEW companies where the American brands are completely free of sweat shop labor & completely made (from beginning to end) in the US.
How do I know this? I used to be a manager at one of the stores, and during one of our managers meeting's i actually SAW WITH MY OWN EYES the process from design to manufacturing of a garment. Yes, they took us to the factories, and WE ALL SAW IT.
As for your ridiculous claims about the European garments being falsely advertised as European, you are obviously high or mentally handicapped. Your information is all false. You can easily find out by searching the brands on Google to see that, yes, they actually are all from London, Paris or Italy, u idiot. Do u think that the web department at LF would have the time or capacity to make "fake" European websites for all these "fake" European brands?
Do the research & find out the truth. And shut your pie hole, while you're at it.
My favorite claim of yours is that Jeffrey Campbell is a "fake" brand made by LF. GIrlfriend, if you are as into fashion as you claim you are, you would know that you are a completely ridiculous person. Again, Google is your friend.
As for the discount, LF strongly believes that their employees wearing the clothing is the best way to market the brands. Haven't you heard of other companies giving their store people the same kind of freebies? (Ie: Diesel - gives their employees a great discount as well as a denim "allowance" every month.)
Also, saying the jeans are good for skinny people like you? Everyone knows all the denim brands at LF run a size run BIG. nice try, fatty
I worked at LF for about a year and my current overwhelming boredom combined with a loathing of similar magnitude for LF stores brings me to pen (type) this review.
LF is a total scam, if you aren't perceptive enough to judge that for yourself. The clothing is cheap and flimsy, and their "little known names" or "European designers" are actually made in all the same factory, owned by Laurie Furst (hence LF).
Own a TFNC tunic? A gloriously witty acronym for "Time For New Clothes," but nowhere near as genius as the cotton "brand" Emma&Sam, family members of Laurie, or CARMAR, the three first letters of his daughter's names: Caroline and Marielle. Yawn.
I was devastated to learn that nearly every "designer" (excluding Paul's Boutique which is actually kind of cool, and obviously Jeffrey Campbell/Cara Couture) is actually churned out in the same (most likely) illegally operated factory.
The markup is so high, in fact, that employees were given a 70% discount and we still had to pay a pretty penny for clothes that would run, tear, pull, etc. after very few wears. And the giant sale they have twice a year is to clean out their excess of junk inventory and make room for the new. Everything you once paid full price for is immediately priced at 60% off, then marked down and down and down until it disappears.
Oh, and before I totally finish: as sales associates, we were supposed to talk up the "new brand names" which we all knew were synthetic as well as avoid telling people that we were not a small, Boston based boutique, but actually a large chain of stores created to be the biggest clothing scam ever in existence. If people thought the designs were "original" or "one of a kind" they were much more likely to cough up cash than if they knew a spotted pink, graffiti-ed mini dress hung in 30 other stores all over America.
The jeans are okay, esp. for skinny peeps like moi.
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So after I parked my Porsche Cayenne, popped into the Armani Cafe for a mimosa and grabbed the new Dior bag I just HAD to go to LF so I could have something to wear to go to 33. Like oh my gawd, it's the BEST store!
Okay, seriously I'm gonna try not to hate. Not because I think it's okay to pay mad Benjamin's for a top made from old handkerchiefs, but to echo Stella, the sales are fantasmaorgasmical. I got the hottest pair of cheetah print d'orsay heels the other day for $28. YES sounds horrible, but rock em with some skinnys and a simple black top. They were the last pair and my size and I had literally been dreaming about them for weeks. I had that pair willed into existence.
The sales girls were super friendly but bombarded me in the dressing room with mountains of jeans in my size (which was great) but also everything cheetah print in the entire store. Cute and endearing, but a girl just don't have time for all that, ya know? Anyway, LF I might dig some of your stuff but I'll only be back once a season when S-A-L-E is decorating the windows.
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Absolutely love the clothes. You can find very trendy stuff, and some outrageous stuff to invest in that don't really follow trends and will spice up your wardrobe for several seasons.
As mentioned by others, the prices are high but the seasonal sales are to kill for. I walked out with a near trash-bag-size parcel for $130.
A great place to pick up statement pieces, dresses, jewelry, shoes. But head across the street (JS) for jeans.
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Like all the comments below -- I agree that this place is VERY LA. I think that is why I like it!
Maybe it does not fit your typical "Boston" vibe, but I think that is why it does well! All us silly little LA girls like going here to find stuff we could not really find otherwise.
EXCEPT THAT -- its just SO expensive, AND if you looked hard enough, and were creative you could get most of the stuff in the store, or better by combining stuff from H&M with Urban Renewals!
It gets 4 stars for having great clothes -- and giving me good style ideas ;) but I just could not afford to shop here for more than the occasional item I fall in LOVE with and can't find at H&M!
HINT - the shoes are not priced too badly in comparison to other Newbury Neighbors!
UPDATE: Their SALES are always worth checking out! 60% of their stalk, well, its at least worth a look! Word is, the current sale Starts TOMORROW Feb 10th @ 9am
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Did Lindsay Lohan throw up her wardrobe and call it LF stores??? I like this store .....I do .....but I have a hard time finding items that are not the following:
Too trendy
Too tight
Don't reveal my ass cheeks
Here is the thing, if you like to dress like the young anorexic celebs in US weekly, then this is your fashion heaven.....IF YOU DON'T, still check this store out.....they DO have a very eclectic mix and colors galore....and I will admit .....it is a nice change from your typical ribbon belt, beaded necklace Bostonian fashion.....I have bought jeans, very cool shoes and skull and cross bone t-shirts here....but a word to the wise --they have at least one or two MEGA sales every year....save up for them-- unless you are fine with spending a hundred bucks on a t-shirt that you probably will NOT appreciate next season.
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I cannot BELIEVE I missed their oh-so-talked-about-sale. Again!
I absolutely love LF but can't afford a damn thing in there. I have to have to have to pay attention and keep my eyes out for their next sale!
As already mentioned, CHECK OUT THEIR SALES.
I've been in here before and it's nice to actually be greeted and acknowledged at a Newbury store upon entrance. It is way out of my poor college price range (that, and I would really rather eat good food) but I happened to be nearby during the first weekend of their 60% sale and it was pure jackpot. I was looking for a pair of boots and found a perfect pair. I thought I should try a size higher and asked a sales associate, who was *helpful* and looked high and low over the store until she found a size 8. The same happened with my friend.
I also found a shirt and dress that was so amazingly soft. One of the associates noticed and offered to find other colors for me, which she promptly did. So all in all, I got a pair of boots + two shirts + two pairs of socks (haha) for $120. Not bad, considering the boots were probably that much in the first place. It was the perfect retail therapy. Everyone looks so stylish and good that you expect them to be snobby, but everyone was really nice and helpful. Their season sales are definitely worth traveling out for.
Edit: Apparently, they are opening up a store in Wellesley Square. Thanks Wellesley and surrounding Boston suburbs, for getting better shopping options only after I leave. I'm looking at you Natick Nordstroms.
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While it may be a bit expensive, you have to think about how fabulous you look in it and how often you will wear it and not the price. Sure you may have to take out a small loan to afford to shop here, but for hip and trendy clothing that is hard to track, LF is the place to shop!!
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LF is way out of my price range, but they have a kickass sale a few times a year, when most everything is about 80% off. During non-sale times, it's a great place to get fashion inspiration, then buy the knockoffs at H&M.
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Today was my first trip here, but I'll come back. Maybe it's just because I used to live in LA, but the clothes they carry are really different from anything else I've seen here, and resonate with the way I like to dress. I wouldn't buy my whole wardrobe here (nor could I afford to!), but they carry some special pieces I would pair with things I already have to take them up a notch on days when I really want some personality to come through. Don't come here to buy a t-shirt - that's what Gap is for. Buy a couple of interesting pieces and take advantage of the seasonal sales.
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Holy expensive-ness!! The first time I went into this store they were having a 60% off sale. The prices are a bit rediculous. There was this long sleeve thermal shirt that I wanted and the original price was $65 - rediculous. Even with the 60% off, it was still around $25. That's a lot for a long sleeve T. Most of the clothes there are not my style, luckily. I wouldn't recommend going here if you were on a budget.
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Can't shop here because they don't have men's cloths, but I recently DJed here a for a breast cancer research fund raiser and the staff was really friendly and fun. It may be expensive, but they have lots of cool looking stuff, if I was a woman and had money I would shop here.
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This place is DIFFERENT. Colors, interesting styles, things you just don't find in other stores. One of the stylists in the store set me up with a whole outfit, and I guess the thing I liked most about about my experience with this store is the fact that I got SO many compliments when I went out that night.
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I thought this store would bring some hope to the drap clothing scene in Boston, and while I applaud it's risky fashion selection, the price structure just kills whatever chance this store had in Boston. As stated by the reviewer below, this is a Los Angeles based store and it seems as if they just flew the entire set-up straight from LA to here with no modifications for the more uptight (and more frugal) Boston crowd. This is Boston, a college town where kids get $40 a week to live off of from work-study - buying a $75 tank top or a $125 belt is not going to happen. I guarantee you that this store will shut-down within 3 years or whenever their lease is up. Sad, but true...
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I stumbled across this place on a good day- they were having a half off sale on everything. Still, lots of stuff was pretty pricey, with tank tops at $40+ even on sale. But they have lots of clothes and shoes. and some cool looking belts. The clothes are really trendy, in styles are that 'in' for right now (lots of embroidery, sequins, words printed all over jeans, etc) but are soon on their way out. And yeah, like Lizzy said in her review, lots of the clothes feel pretty flimsy, so you're not paying for quality here- you are paying more for the look.
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One of the trendier places to shop in Boston. If you are trying to track down a piece of clothing or hot new accessory you saw in the pages of Cosmo or Glamor stop by LF. Why they really are on the expensive side they have some great pieces that are worth the investment.
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This store is originally from LA and it is so painfully awkward in boston. It is ridiculously overwhelming- tons of colors, fabrics, cuts, embellishments, patches, accessories, random streamers...everything...is strewn around the store. There are some finds if your willing to look but I don't think the quality of the clothes matches the price. They need to stream line the store for the boston crowd and they might get it together. GOOD FOR: vintage-y necklaces.
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Crazy expensive, and it always looks like everyone in there has put on as many pieces of clothing as physically possible. Every time I go in here, there are stripes and polka dots and patterns all together in piles..which is reallly overwhelming when you're just looking for like, a tshirt (which by the way definitely not worth buying here). You absolutely have to shop by piece ( I wouldn't go in looking to buy an entire outfit), but give it a shot, its definitely hit or miss.
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I Looooove this place! It is expensive, so I wouldn't buy my entire wardrobe there, but I love going every so often just to see what they have and to buy one or two signature pieces. They have a great variety of stuff and have some cool accessories too. In Westport we used to call it the "secret store" because of the MORE THAN AMAZING sales they have like twice a year. If you can catch one, go immediately, all of the seasons clothes are marked down...way way down and you will be sure to find at least one thing you like!
I am with Gabriella on this one. I also worked at LF and was told by Laurie Furst, the owner and manufacturer of 80% of the clothes in the store, to (a) lie about the size of the chain (there are almost 30 stores nationwide) and (b) to lie about the worth and origin of the clothes.
If you like the clothes at LF, go to Wet Seal, Forever 21 or any of the chain-ghetto stores like Rainbow or Tellos. They are the same brand and everything...for a mere fraction of the cost.
The only things that are legit in the store are the cotton tanks and tees which I will admit are wonderful (although they don't last very long) and the brands Paul's Boutique and Jeffrey Campbell. Beyond that, the store is a huge rip-off.
Don't be fooled. There is nothing high-fashion or high-class in LF that you can't get at any old mall.
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