Virginia Fiester Frederick was a fashion designer who outfitted hundreds of North Shore women and a politician who served both Lake Forest and the state of Illinois.

Born Virginia Heise in 1916, she graduated from the University of Iowa in 1938 where she studied home economics. She moved to Lake Forest with her husband Don Fiester in 1942, where they raised three children: Sherry, Alan and Jimmy.

Virginia Fiester started her fashion design career in the basement of their home at 1540 Greenleaf making dresses for their daughter. She gradually started selling the clothes in small shops on the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. Eventually she was asked to design and make dresses for local weddings. Many local residents are proud to have worn an original “Ginnie Fiester” wedding gown.

One of her largest wedding commissions was to design outfits for a famous "mother of the groom" and her friends. The groom in question was North Shore resident Patrick Neugent, who married Luci Johnson, President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter, at the White House in 1966.

Virginia was the first woman alderman on the Lake Forest City Council in 1974 and was elected to the Illinois State House of Representatives in 1978. In the House, Virginia worked hard to enact legislation that would support women’s new roles, protect children, and promote families’ rights. She retired from the legislature in 1995 after 16 years in service.