The 19th Annual Cashmere Collection rolls down the runway all for a worthy cause

Do you remember what seems like a lifetime ago the world teetered on the brink of a perceived toilet paper shortage, thanks to the pandemic? People were panicking over the hoarding, amidst mounting fears we were running out of a crucial lifestyle essential.

You know the world is going back to normal when toilet paper is back where it belongs, in the bathroom – and back as a fashion statement.

Just recently the 19th Annual Cashmere Collection took place at Toronto’s The Symes event venue bringing together some of Canada’s finest fashion stars to create gorgeous, flowing fashion made out of…toilet paper. The  luxuriously soft, new and improved Cashmere UltraLuxe bathroom tissue, to be exact.

The event, named the Cashmere Collection Celestial Awakening, returned for a live runway performance after a brief pandemic pause, and the event assembled some of the country’s brightest designer stars that dazzled the runway, injecting their own personalities and identities into their designs, using toilet paper as their muse.

All 12 of the designs were stunning, noted Scarborough native and international fashion star Jay Manuel, famed  for his roles on America’s Next Top Model, Canada’s Next Top Model and E! Network, and who presented the collection as part of the company’s Future Without Cancer campaign, to kick-off October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (The event has been supporting breast cancer awareness since being founded in 2004.)

“Canada has an amazing wealth of fashion talent, and seeing these creative visionaries bring their show-stopping designs to life as a collection on the runway is truly epic,” said Manuel at the show, who curated the collection for the first time. “Our 2022 theme, Celestial Awakening, is a celebration of strength, hope, and compassion, and (we) asked our designers to look to the heavens for inspiration,” he added in a recent release. “I am totally blown away by the creativity, skill, and craftsmanship that went into each and every design.”

The designs were visual works of art, breathtaking as they were ethereal, playful, daring and stunning. One forgot the main material was ultra-delicate bathroom tissue, but the brief videos of the different designers showing how they created their dresses revealed just how difficult it is to work with toilet paper. One model walked the runway with a noticeable hole where her shoe had gone through the hem, another model dusted the runway with tufts of toilet paper, and a third walked carefully with huge, toilet-paper wrapped wings delicately attached to her back.

All for a good cause: Throughout October, twenty-five cents from the sale of every limited-edition pink package of the company’s Cashmere Ultraluxe bathroom tissue goes directly towards breast cancer efforts, up to a maximum of  $65,000.

As well, Canadians are invited to vote for their favourite design through Vote Couture for the Cure at www.CashmereVoteCouture.com. Cashmere will donate $1 (to a maximum of $15,000) to the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation (QBCF) breast cancer efforts in the winning designer’s name.

“It’s specifically designed to raise much-needed public support and funds for breast cancer awareness, prevention,  and treatment programs through our long-standing partnerships with the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Quebec  Breast Cancer Foundation (QBCF),” said Susan Irving, CMO of Kruger Products, in a recent media release. “Over the  years, we have raised millions of dollars in support of the breast cancer cause.”

Irving added this year’s collection “pays tribute to our ever-evolving lifestyle and the perseverance Canadians show as we adapt to our environment with empathy and compassion.

“It’s a joy to celebrate a new normal in Canada after two plus years of lockdown,” she added.

The Stars of the 2022 Cashmere Collection Celestial Awakening Include:

Event photography: George Pimentel @georgepimentel1