A New Brunswick woman has won a top prize with a dress inspired by her mom’s battle with cancer.
Chavah Lindsay of Grand Bay, New Brunswick recently competed against 15 other Canadian designers at a Cashmere collection competition.
The object was to make a dress out of bathroom tissue.
“My mom, unfortunately, didn’t make it through, but it was quite a process for my whole family. It definitely brought us together. I drew inspiration from that. The roses symbolize the growth that happened as a family. The lace-up back is us kind of coming together to uplift her, and the roses underneath, you don’t see all of them, because there’s sometimes some quiet strength that happens within the whole cancer process,” Lindsay says.
She adds that a lot of emotion went into designing and making the dress, and then seeing it on the runway in the competition.
“There’s a little story before my mom passed away. She said to us, whenever you see a butterfly, I want you to think of me. I was backstage, and I met my model for the first time, we were in the middle of a conversation, and I looked down and she was wearing a butterfly necklace. So it just felt like there were so many really special moments where I felt connected to my mom in the whole process. Then to finish with a win, was just like the icing on the cake,” Lindsay told us.
She couldn’t say exactly how much bathroom tissue it took to make the dress because when she received it in the mail, it wasn’t rolls of toilet paper.
“We’re given these big uncut sheets. So it’s not what you would typically see. It’s not quilted or anything like that, but it’s still just as hard. It’s still just as fragile. I pulled it out of the box, and it immediately ripped, and I remembered that it’s not easy.”
This was the second time Lindsay was asked to participate in the Cashmere collection competition, but she felt it was a great opportunity for a fashion designer for more recognition, especially one living on the East Coast.
The dress is now owned by Cashmere, so Lindsay says she’ll never really know when she’ll see it pop up.
“Maybe the dress itself might be on display at next year’s show. It’s just kind of a piece of art that’s tucked away into an archive. It’s a great opportunity as a designer.”
Lindsay was born in St. Stephen but now lives in Grand Bay, New Brunswick.
