N.B. fashion designer honours late mother with unique, award-winning dress
A New Brunswick fashion designer recently won the top prize at a national event for a dress she made using an unconventional material.
Chavah Lindsay of Saint John made the dress out of bathroom tissue as part of the 2024 Cashmere Collection Fashion Show.
The event, which was held in Toronto last month, featured couture looks from 16 designers, all with the goal of raising funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.
Lindsay lost her mother Margaret to cancer and decided to honour her memory by creating a short, corset-backed design that took the top prize at the competition.
Lindsay says it was a challenge to make a dress out of layers of thin tissue.
Chavah Lindsay of Saint John, N.B., made this dress out of bathroom tissue as part of the 2024 Cashmere Collection Fashion Show. (Courtesy: Chavah Lindsay)
“I did it over and over again, because every time it ripped, I had to start over,” she said during an interview with CTV Morning Live Atlantic.
Lindsay also joked she could have used the tissue to dab her tears while making the dress.
“Whenever you need a little cry, it’s right there for you,” she said.
Lindsay’s gown featured pink roses, matching this year’s theme of “Bloom.”
Lindsay said she wanted to reflect on her whole family’s journey with her late mother’s cancer diagnosis with that theme in mind.
“In blooming, you change, you grow, you all go through this process together, so that what I wanted to reflect in the design itself,” she said.
Lindsay described her mother as “wonderful” and said she was very supportive of her art and fashion.
“She sacrificed a lot to get me to where I am now. She never got to see me do my business in fashion, so to be able to be here now feels really good,” Lindsay said.
Her mother told her, in the days leading up to her death, that she wanted Lindsay to think of her whenever she saw a butterfly.
“That’s always been close to my heart, and obviously when I see a butterfly I think of her … then I went backstage and met my model for the first time and I looked down at her neck – she had a butterfly,” she said. “I just broke down in tears and she was like, ‘Are you OK? What’s going on?” and I explained the story and it just felt so touching, I felt so connected to her through this process and that just topped it.”
A model walks down the runway at the 2024 Cashmere Collection Fashion Show in Toronto wearing a dress by New Brunswick fashion designer Chavah Lindsay. (Courtesy: Chavah Lindsay)
Lindsay didn’t expect to win the 2024 Cashmere Collection Fashion Show and says the moment her name was called was “shocking.”
“I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to do, I wasn’t where I was supposed to be because I didn’t think I was going to win,” she said. “The designers were supposed to be backstage and I was at the front with my husband. He was recording and then they said my name and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, let’s do this.’”
Lindsay said the Cashmere Collection is going to take the proceeds from her big win and donate it to breast cancer research in her name.
“So that is huge, it feels really good to know that I’m giving back,” she said, describing it as a full-circle moment.
“I lost my mom who supported my art so wholeheartedly to cancer and now I’m giving back with that art that she supported.”
For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Ottawa has sold its stake in Air Canada: sources
Two senior federal government sources have confirmed to CTV News that the federal government has sold its stake in Air Canada. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the government purchased a six per cent stake in the airline for $500 million as part of a bailout package.
Premiers disagree on whether Canada should cut off energy supply to U.S. if Trump moves ahead with tariffs
Some of Canada's premiers appeared to disagree with Ontario Premier Doug Ford on his approach to retaliatory measures, less than a day after he threatened to cut off the province's energy supply to the U.S. if president-elect Donald Trump follows through on his threat of punishing tariffs.
BREAKING B.C. carjacking suspect illegally crossed U.S. border before arrest, police say
Authorities have arrested a suspect who allegedly carjacked a pickup truck in B.C.'s Lower Mainland on Thursday, then illegally crossed the U.S. border.
She took a DNA test for fun. Police used it to charge her grandmother with murder in a cold case
According to court documents, detectives reopened the cold case in 2017 and then worked with a forensics company to extract DNA from Baby Garnet's partial femur, before sending the results to Identifinders International.
Travis Vader, killer of Lyle and Marie McCann, denied day parole
The man who killed an Alberta couple in 2010 has been denied day parole.
McDonald's employee who called 911 in CEO's shooting is eligible for reward, but it will take time
More than 400 tips were called into the New York Police Department's Crime Stoppers tip line during the five-day search for a masked gunman who ambushed and fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week.
Man who set fires inside Calgary's municipal building lost testicle during arrest: ASIRT
Two Calgary police officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing in an incident that saw a suspect lose a testicle after being shot with an anti-riot weapon.
Country star Morgan Wallen sentenced in chair-throwing case
Country music star Morgan Wallen on Thursday pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts of reckless endangerment for throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-storey bar in Nashville and nearly hitting two police officers with it.
Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour' concerts cost Toronto Police about $1.9 million
Remember Taylor Swift's police motorcades while she performed her six-show series in Toronto last month? Toronto police revealed on Thursday that the popstar's sold-out performances, including her motorcade, cost them about 1.9 million.