Michelle Tan

Michelle Tan was interested in fashion design at an early age. She took her first sewing class when she was in fourth grade. After one sewing lesson, she designed her first outfit by using newspaper as pattern papers. After graduating with a bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design from International Academy of Technology and Designs in 1999, she took six months off to travel to Asia searching for fabrics and yarns for her first collection.

Michelle Tan launched her line under her name in Fall 2000. Tan’s devotion to deconstruction and details has made her Chicago’s fastest growing designer. In 2000 she won the Style Maker and Rule Breaker Award by Fashion Group International, and in 2001 she won the Marshal Field’s Distinction Award and sold her line to Marshall Field’s. Michelle Tan sells to over 60 stores across the US, Canada, and Japan. In June 2006 she opened her first flagship boutique in Wicker Park, and in 2010 opened her second boutique in Downtown Block 37.