Hi guys!

After a long, dreary winter, I thought it would be great to do some exploring. Personally, I love getting recommendations from my friends and fellow fashionistas, which is why I am starting this feature called My Five. My Five will show you what top tastemakers, fellow students, and Chicago locals love in this city. Where to shop, where to eat, what to explore.

For my first feature, I asked Whitney Gruber to give us her top five spots in Chicago. Social media and marketing maven, fashion goddess, and one of the coolest girls I know, Whitney has the job a girl could only dream of, essentially helping set trends in Chicago by being the Marketing Coordinator at Chicago’s raddest fashion business, eDrop-Off. Whitney’s Instagram and Twitter are more than worthy of a follow, providing plenty of style inspiration for spring and summer. Now, I’ll stop raving about how chic Gruber is, and let her get down to it.

Hey StreetStyleChi readers! I’m Whitney Middleton Gruber, Marketing Coordinator at Chicago’s best luxury consignment biz, eDrop-Off. To say my job is fun is an understatement! I spend my days researching the latest trends & designers, developing content for our blog & social media, & most recently, curating special sales once a month for our website. Digging through incredible designer merchandise & developing editorial content is a dream come true for me. Literally, I would dream about it while stuck in a cubical at my first job in project management in the financial industry. I quit that job on a whim 2 years ago & never looked back. If you have a true passion & talent for something, the opportunities will come. That’s how I landed at EDO & I couldn’t be more grateful to be here – it changed my life! Speaking of life changers – I also spend 2 weekends a year at New York Fashion Week working in the backstage trenches as a dresser. It’s rather grueling, but the energy is incredible, & I get to experience the collections up close before they hit the runway. Needless to say, fashion isn’t just my industry, it’s my #1 passion!

My top five picks:

Tilly – My absolute favorite vintage store in Chicago! It’s a hidden gem tucked away in the North Center neighborhood. I’m very picky about vintage stores, as many don’t have much to offer over the fantastic thrift shops here, but this one is beyond amazing. Susan, the owner, knows her stuff – she can name the decade of any piece & has a knowledge of fashion history I could listen to for hours! Prices are fair & negotiable, product is rare & well curated. GO THERE NOW!

Photo Credit: Natalie Krick