Super Bowl Slouchy Sunday!

Super Bowl Sunday is the perfect day to rock your most comfortable, cozy, easy-to-cheer in outfit!  I love Super Bowl Sunday because it gives everyone a reason to hang out with friends, sit on a comfortable couch, and enjoy the Puppies or Football...your preference!  :)

In the spirit of this lazy Sunday, I will be sending off a super short and to the point blog on what I recommend wearing to your favorite Super Bowl Sunday bash!

Bright stripes for a fun sporty vibe!

Slouchy and soft sweaters with uber comfortable leggings are the way to go!  The perfect way to be stylish, comfortable and mistakenly sexy!  :)

 Edgy, cute, and comfortable!

So understated & sexy!  <3

Red skinnies and a touch of leopard!

Stick with the colors of the 2012 Super Bowl and rock some red and blue try to mix in some brown or black as your neutral as opposed to white to stay away from being too patriotic!

Rock your own Style In The City this Super Bowl Sunday!
XOXO,
Shopping Girl,
Lora
www.shoppinggirlxoxo.com

PINING FOR PINTREST!

OMG!  I do not know what I did before Pintrest!  If you have not already requested an invitation, DO IT!  It is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I've lead a pretty sweet life thus far!  :)

Pintrest is for sure one of my new obsessions, and has inspired me to do a "Pintrest-found Obsessions" blog once a month!  SO, here goes...

MY WINTER FASHION CRAVINGS!




This gorg chunky knit scarf and the beautiful vintage teal color kill me!  I found one at Urban that I have lived in ever since seeing this inspirational pic!  It's such a great neutral color to mix and match with so many coats and outfits!  YAY!




 
 I'm loving this killer ring (literally) in such great colors.  It has a unique and mystical vibe to it.  I like how it can add an edgyness to a super girly outfit or take an uber straight laced outfit  to a cool boho feel.  I would wear it everyday!





I want this in every color!  Such an amazingly comfortable, flirty, beautiful bra to wear under EVERY chunkified comfy sweater in my closet to add that perfect hint of sex appeal!  NEED!





 


I am obsessed with wraps and layers of bracelets and watches.  I love how this does all the work for you with a perfect mix matched selection of different materials to totally wear on an everyday basis!





I ordered these the second I found them!  I've been looking for the perfect pair but just wasn't loving the ALL over leather look, or the knee patches...or I swear the craziest, most unflattering placement of leather patches...but THIS is exactly what I was looking for!  Don't you love when your vision actually exists!  The cotton panels are so flattering and SO comfortable!  I totally wore these to Kathy Griffin last week!  She is cra cra!  I love it!






Hope you enjoyed my PINTREST PINES!  :)  I'll probably go start looking for next months Pintrest fashion cravings now!  :)  Follow me through Lora LaPratt on Pintrest!
www.pintrest.com

Get pinning your own Style In The City!  Have fun!
XOXO,
Shopping Girl,
Lora LaPratt
www.shoppinggirlxoxo.com

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU, NEW ORGANIZATION!

I hope everyone had as amazing of a holiday as I did!  I basically took the month off from blogging... and anything else that didn't have to do with family, friends, and celebration of life!  It was a great, hectic, eventful, fun-filled month...and now it is time to reorganize my life!

If you are anything like me, you obsess over what you are going to wear to all of your special events coming up.  I plan that perfect outfit in my head, but always seem to wait until the last minute to freak out while throwing clothes all over my room in hopes of finding that one thing I'm looking for to complete the ensemble.  Still praying that it will look as perfect as I imagined in my obsession-based mind leading up to the event.  This is how I USED to be I should say!

Valentines Day?

The savior to my crazed wardrobe meltdowns is my beautiful dress form!  My awesome boyfriend got me her; a sparkly, silver, room enhancing dress form, and she really has saved me many sleepless nights and fumbling mornings leading up to events...or just every day life!  Shopping Girl (we fittingly named her) is the perfect way for me to try an outfit on, accessories and all...step back, and see if it really is as spectacular of an outfit as I had imagined in my mind once on a body! 

My little weekly wardrobe corner!

If you're looking for something a little more budget friendly, my second step to wardrobe planning is to take my important outfits for the week and hang them on their individual hangers.  I then hang them on a DIY beautiful wardrobe display shelf in the corner of my bedroom.  This is where I hang my important outfits for the week.  Through out the week I can glance at them, making sure it is exactly what I want to be wearing, as well as having  a constant reminder that I am all set for the event once the time sneaks up on me to get ready!  SO relaxing!


Chicago closets can be small, clothing can be hung tightly and folded in hiding places making it hard to find that item you KNOW will be perfect!  Setting a few minuets aside at the beginning of the week to organize your wardrobe plan for the week can really relieve last minute stress and sleep deprivation leading up to parties/events/girls nights out/work or any other event your crazy life might have in store for you!

It's a new year, make it a little less stressful and a bit more organized with these simple steps to create your own style in the city!

XOXO,
Shopping Girl,
Lora LaPratt

What do you CRAVE in Chicago!?

As the holidays are quickly approaching, it's about that time to make lists and check them twice for all the festive tasks that must be done! Beautifully decorated trees are highlighting windows as you walk down the streets of Chicago bundled up in your wool coats and super chunky infinity scarfs for maximum warmth.  Delicious cookies have been baked for work parties, travel plans have been made for your vacation time, and your gift list is beginning to dwindle down to those last few friends and family members that you can never seem to find that "perfect" thing for...

That's where I come in :)  Thursday evening the CRAVE Chicago 2nd edition will be published, out and ready to be wrapped under every Christmas tree!  The super attractive coffee table book is perfect for that woman in your life that craves anything from restaurants, boutiques, photography, dance, style, and most importantly supporting local entrepreneurs!  It is chock full of amazing Chicago businesses and will help you find exactly what you're looking for with it's colorful photography, personal Q&As, business profiles, and huge coupons!

Shopping Girl XOXO Spread!

My personal shopping and styling business, Shopping Girl XOXO, will be highlighted along with 121 other prospering Chicago businesses!  This is the perfect answer to those last holiday gifts on your list!  Also great birthday and New Years gifts!  Start the year off right, support local businesses!

If you're interested, shoot me an email at lora@shoppinggirlxoxo.com, I can ship the book to you that day, or we can arrange for pick up if you're in the Chicago area!  Only $20!

CRAVE Chicago is the perfect book to create your own Style In The City this holiday season on your own coffee table or sharing the love with others!

XOXO,
Lora

LOVING CAPES!

FIERCE!

My favorite trend this season is quickly becoming the forever stylish cape!  Completely and utterly fabulous inducing!  I swear as soon as I put one on, I transform into someone everyone wants to be... or at least it makes me stand that much taller and walk that much cooler, even if it is all in my own head!  :)

The point is, a cape can take any dreary outfit up a notch in trend and sophistication!  Score!

Vintage Burberry reversible cape!  <3

For a timeless piece that will work with anything, I highly recommend a great camel cape!  Camel is all the rage and the best part about it is it's neutrality!   You can rock a camel cape with just about any color under the sun!  Gorg!

For any vintage enthusiasts out there, keep your eyes open because I have some wonderful cape finds from the 60's that I seem to gravitate towards in my closet more than any others!

A few tips for cape shopping/wearing :
*  Belt it!  anywhere from thin to wide belts look great over capes to ad a little shape and up the sex appeal!  Play around with the belt!  They look great OVER the front and UNDER the back of a loose cape look!
*  Look for reversible capes!  Two fabulous looks in one, what a great concept!
*Play with proportions and keep your bottom fitted with a great pair of riding boots for the perfect look!

Built in belt cape from Jarlo Tippi

Reversible Missoni!!

Throw on your favorite cape and make your own Style In The City this winter!
XOXO,
Shopping Girl,
Lora
www.shoppinggirlxoxo.com
@shoppinggirlxo

ARTSY PARTSY!

Thanks to my great friends from K & S Boutique in Lakeview I was invited to a super fun "juicing party"!  Without knowing what in the world to expect except some fabulous clothes from K & S, some beautiful new jewelry designers, decadent chocolate, and fun fresh juice drinks, my friend and I ventured out on one of the first very cold nights of November! 

From the invitation we had anticipated a bit of a "Real Housewives of Chicago" atmosphere,... thank goodness what we entered was SO much more fun!

We got off the elevator to be greeted by floor to ceiling canvases of beautiful art!  LOVED Dena Lyon's technique to create vibrant trees that really put you in the picture emotionally!  I'm a huge believer in color connection, and with her huge assortment of color combinations in her paintings there is no way each painting wouldn't connect to each person on a different level!   (http://www.denalyons.com/)  After our hall way walk of art we entered the shoulder to shoulder packed tiny apartment of artsy partsyness!  Super fun!

 

After creating our very own fresh juice concoction me made our way around the party and I am so happy to have met Daria Amerik of icandi!  Her jewelry is beautiful and very unique!  The gemstones she uses are vibrant and they all have a trendy edgy side mixed in with the beauty and diversity of all the jewelry creations!  Check out her website at www.damerik.com/jewelry.html


The delicious baked goods, organic chocolates, funky music, K&S clothing and jewelry, vegetarian cuisine, hand made jewelry and beautiful art surrounded by good vibrations all added up to very unexpectedly fun night!

Create your own unexpected fun and art up your style in the city!
XOXO,
Shopping Girl,
Lora
@shoppinggirlxo
www.shoppinggirlxoxo.com

New Obsession : Project Accessory

I love this new uber creative and completly inspiring reality spin-off of Project Runway!  P.R. has always and will always be up there on my list of fabulous reality shows, and Project Accessory may be quickly rising to the top of the list as well!

One of the best, and one of the worst!

At first glance, I thought it would get old pretty fast but after the first episode that consisted of taking trash from OLD storage units and turning it into crazy cool accessories my view quickly changed!  The whole premise reminds me of my glory years in Odyssey of the Mind/Destination Imagination (please tell me someone out there knows what I'm talking about)!  Creative problem solving to turn old trash into modern pieces of art!  LOVE!

There are many aspects of the show that I'm pretty much obsessed with, my top three :

3 Accessories to style an LBD!

1.  SO many different styles and ability levels rocking out self-expression through major creativity!
2.  The judges aren't choosing the most in your face cray cray pieces, but rather the most stylish, wearable pieces unbiased from their own trends.
3.  I just love the massive desire to dig through my closet to create my own works of art after each episode!



Check out Project Accessory and get inspired to CREATE your own Style In The City!
XOXO,
Shopping Girl,
Lora
www.shoppinggirlxoxo.com