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.”

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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.”

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