IP featured on Ma Frangine
Sweet style blog Ma Frangine did a very complimentary post on Imaginary People. Visit the site here and click “Love It” at the bottom of the post if you likey!
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Imaginary People on NOTCOUTURE
We’ve been stopping by NOTCOUTURE.com for a long time now, gaining inspiration from their daily fashion and design posts and coveting the pieces they feature. What a nice surprise to see Imaginary People featured on such a well-curated site! Visit NOTCOUTURE here.
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Imaginary People on NBC Chicago
Be sure to check out the full story and pics, just click here.
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Imaginary People in Time Out Chicago
Be sure to check out the Time Out Chicago coverage of the Fresh Faces Show on their website. Click here for the full post & pics.
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Imaginary People on Daily Candy
Big ups to Daily Candy for shouting out the launch of IP!!! Click here for the actual post.
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Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion 2009
We had an amazing experience being chosen one of six emerging designers to participate in the Seventh Annual Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion Show in the tents at Millenium Park. Much gratitude goes out to the entire team at Gen Art and the amazing Mario Tricoci hair and Sephora makeup teams. Check some shots we caught backstage as well as some runway stills.
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Imaginary People featured in Michigan Avenue Magazine!
Imaginary People is honored to have been included in the fall fashion issue of Michigan Avenue Magazine! Special thanks go out to Kate Templin, Meghan Blalock, and photographer Eric Hausman.
“WE WERE PARTY GIRLS, and we didn’t have the money to buy clothes to wear out, so we started making our own stuff,” says Olivia Shanks (ABOVE LEFT), half of the team behind Imaginary People, a Chicago-based label that aims to reinvent classic wardrobe staples turning them into versatile, fashion-forward pieces.
Shanks met her partner in design, Telo Dunne, a decade ago, when both were undergrads. Though Shanks was studying philosophy at Northwestern and Dunne was a psychology major at Loyola, both were undeniably attracted to hipper pursuits. 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. Imaginary People is available at Ananas Boutique, 109 N. Oak Park Ave., 708-524-8585; imaginarypeopleonline.com.
-KATE TEMPLIN
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The Trunk Show
Many thanks and much love to everyone who both made our trunk show possible and came out to support! Cocktails flowed all afternoon courtesy of generous sponsors Debonair Social Club, A:M Vodka Cocktails, and Anderson’s Winery. Peep the photos below taken courtesy of our fabulous friend Ashley Klich.
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Fall ‘09 Trunk Show - June 7, 2009
Greetings Friends! Please join us for our first trunk show! Click invite image to enlarge.
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Hard Rock Windows - Summer ‘08
Last May Imaginary People was chosen along with a group of local Chicago designers to showcase our work in the windows at the Hard Rock Hotel. Also featured was our good friend Sara who crafts amazing hats. Check out her site @ www.samsaradesign.com. Special thanks go out to Stephanie, The Stitches Fashion Program, and the Chicagoland Entrepeneurial Center.
