A so-called “fashion designer” in Raleigh, North Carolina, who loves to flex like he’s living the high life, is struggling to cough up a woman’s $175 for a dress he never even bothered to make.
Meet Traviance Dunn—who made a short-lived appearance as a Season 1 contestant on Hulu’s Dress My Tour. But while TV might paint him as a rising star, behind the scenes, Dunn does shady business.
Tanya Bunch, a Greensboro resident, says she rehearsed for a month for a Tim Johnson Productions fashion show scheduled for December 8, 2024. Impressed by Dunn’s inclusion in the designer lineup, she decided to trust him with creating her birthday dress. Big mistake.
“I said to myself, ‘Well, he has to be dope because he’s in my show, so why not just get a dress from him for my birthday?'” Bunch said to herself.
In text messages shared with us by Bunch, she and Traviance are having a conversation about the dress, where he tells her that they need to have a fitting next week. In response, Bunch says ‘ok’ and tells Traviance that her dinner is on the 23rd of November and that night she is having a 90’s party and invited him to it.
A few texts later, Bunch sends Traviance her measurements, to which he says ‘perfect’ and tells her that he is on his way to the fabric store and that he accepts several methods of payment. He told Bunch that the deposit would be $175, which she sent via Cash App.
After showing Traviance a stunning long dress from his own Instagram—only requesting a color change to crème—Bunch paid him a $175 deposit via Cash App. And that’s when the games began.
Promises, Ghosting, and Excuses
On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, Bunch sent Traviance a text about the fitting that they had already discussed. Traviance didn’t respond. In another text on November 15, Bunch followed up again, asking Traviance when he wanted them to meet for the fitting. He didn’t respond until November 17, with, ‘Hey love, I haven’t made it back, but I have your dress and will bring it to you Tuesday.’
Bunch responded with, ‘Oh ok, hun.’
On Wednesday, November 20, 2024, Bunch sent a text asking Traviance when they could meet for the dress, and he told her Friday at his place, but then said Thursday, November 21, 2024. The next day, Traviance ghosted, and Bunch sent him a text saying that she really hadn’t heard from him and had no idea if he had finished the dress.
Six days later, Traviance resurfaced with excuses. Claiming an “emergency” and a mix-up involving his boyfriend declining the refund on Cash App, he promised to send the money soon—or even gift her the dress. Spoiler alert: Neither happened.
“Also, I’ll send pics. You can still have the dress because I won’t have use for it. I had an emergency, so that’s why I was unreachable, and I also didn’t purposely decline your Cash App. My boyfriend didn’t recognize the name and did that, so my apologies.”
Bunch expressed her disappointment in Traviance and said she was really looking forward to the dress. She pointed out that he did not communicate with her about his “emergency” and left her in the dark with nothing for her birthday dinner. He then owned up to his part regarding his communication.
“I TOTALLY GET IT AND APOLOGIZE, WHICH IS WHY I’M JUST GOING TO GIFT YOU THE DRESS BECAUSE I’M REALLY AIMING TO BUILD GOOD BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS HERE….”
Bunch told us that she didn’t hear anything else from Traviance until this month, on December 2, when he texted her. He said he wanted to reach out to see if they could meet for her refund or if he could cash app her. She sent him her Cash App, and then he said he wanted her to walk for him at this past Sunday’s fashion show on December 8, 2024.
Bunch told Traviance that she would love to.
On Thursday, December 5, Bunch sent Traviance a text and asked him when he would be sending her Cash App. He told her that he could send it that evening. Nothing. On Saturday, Traviance texted Bunch and asked her if it was okay if he paid her on Sunday, December 8, 2024.
Bunch told Traviance, “No problem.”
Bunch said she also told the producer of the show about Traviance allegedly scamming her, to which he agreed that what he did was wrong.
“I SAID THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE… ‘HE SAID, OH, ABSOLUTELY, LET ME TAKE CARE OF IT, AND I WILL HAVE HIM CONTACT YOU.’ ANYWAY, HE STILL DIDN’T GIVE ME MY MONEY,” BUNCH SAID.
On Saturday, December 7, 2024, the night before the show, Bunch said that at rehearsal, all of the designers were going to pick who they wanted to walk in their designs. She said the designers picked their models, including Traviance, who skipped her.
“I GET TO REHEARSAL, AND HE STARTS PICKING MODELS, AND HE SKIPS ME,” BUNCH SAID. “IN THE TEXT MESSAGE, HE SAID, ‘I WANT YOU TO WALK FOR ME,’ SO I’M THINKING HE’S GOING TO BRING THE DRESS ON SUNDAY FOR ME TO WALK IN.”
On the day of the fashion show, there was no dress or money. Although she had already provided her measurements, she said Traviance walked up to her and asked for them again.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Bunch had had enough and took to Facebook to call out Traviance.
We tried to reach Traviance by phone, but the line was disconnected.
