Chicago Fashion Design at its Finest – Imaginary People Featured in Michigan Ave Mag

Chicago fashion designers Olivia Shanks and Telo Dunne are featured in this month’s Michigan Avenue Magazine!

Kate Templin from Michigan Avenue Magazine writes:

After spending years modeling and working in the nightlife and music industries, the best friends—both now 32—decided while taking a walk around Bucktown that it was time to do their own thing in the fashion industry. “Within a month we had our name legally registered,” Dunne says. “But it’s taken a couple of years to get everything in place, from sourcing to manufacturing, especially since we’re doing it without any funding. Luckily, we’re natural-born hustlers.” Hustlers, yes. Talented, absolutely. Imaginary People’s classic pieces— think jersey tees with cape backs, slinky tunics in a supersoft bamboo blend and an open-backed dress equally appropriate for day and night— have caught the attention of local fashion icon Ikram Goldman, who has acted as a mentor of sorts to Dunne and Shanks. “She’s been a great influence,” Dunne says of Goldman. “She keeps pushing us forward.” And, for this trendsetting twosome, the next step will undoubtedly be a stylish one.

Pick up a copy of Michigan Avenue today and hang this one up on your Inspiration Wall. We haven’t heard the last from these ladies. Go get ‘em, girls!

(Posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009)