This month Canada's fashion elite came together for The White Cashmere Collection, an event created to celebrate Canadian couture and fight breast cancer. The annual event, now in its sixth year, allows emerging designers to gain exposure while working for a good cause.
This year's event also celebrated the introduction of Pink Cashmere. The new limited-edition bathroom tissue was designed to raise awareness and support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, with twenty-five cents from the sale of each package going to the Foundation.
White Cashmere Collection 2009
Each year, new and emerging talents joins forces with established Canadian fashion designers, and this year was no exception. Fifteen designers were invited to craft elaborate couture creations out of an unlikely material: Cashmere Bathroom Tissue. The goal is to bring a little bit of humour and pizzazz to women's lives, despite the very serious illness it attempts to conquer.
This year's show was curated by stylist and creative director Peter Papapetrou, former visual merchandiser for Emporio Armani. Papapetrou, who has dressed numerous celebrities – including Hillary Duff and Oscar winner Javier Bardem – and has worked with a variety of renowned designers and brands – from Izzy Camilleri, Hilary Radley and Giambatistta Valli, to MAC Cosmetics – joined hands with 15 Canadian designers to create a vision of a future without breast cancer.
Participating Designers
The fashion designers chosen to participate in this year's event included Congo-born Patrice Soku, the winner of the reality TV fashion competition La Collection; Richmond, B.C.-based duo Raymond Boutet and Lyle Reimer of Evan & Dean, who design highly architectural dresses and gowns reminiscent of Frank Gehry's work; and classically trained Payam Tavãn and Mike Mitto of Tavãn & Mitto, whose creations have been worn by Charlize Theron and Ashanti, among others.
Celebrated Calgary-based couturier Paul Hardy took part in the event, as did Farley Chatto, who has created costumes for an Elton John fundraising concert as well as Sex and the City's Mr. Big; Toronto's Nada Shepherd of the NADA label; and Saigon-born Montrealer Dinh Bà, who has worked with Lino Catalano and the Mackage team.
Always the epitome of femininity, Jane Ip, the Toronto-based designer behind the Jeanne Lottie label, contributed a clutch studded with large pink-cabbage roses, while star milliner David Dunkley of KC's Hats created a stunning headpiece adorned with flowers and leaves. Jewellery designer Dandi Maestre – who has worked with unconventional materials, such as antlers – created a bold, modern and dramatic statement piece in the necklace she designed for a gown created by Patricia Fieldwalker of Vancouver’s Adagio Lingerie.
Outstanding Designs
- Patricia Fieldwalker's contribution to this year's event is a revealing, hyper-feminine gown adorned with Swarovski crystals and six hundred Cashmere BT florets, a creation worthy of the most extravagant flamenco dancer.
- If you've got it, flaunt it – Carlie Wong can help you! The Project Runway Canada alum's design for the White Cashmere Collection 2009 is a gorgeous, playful cocktail dress, for the woman who is in touch with her own sexuality.
- Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong, the team behind Toronto’s Greta Constantine label, created an equally dramatic and empowering outfit complete with hot pants and bouffant sleeves – definitely not for shy wallflowers.
- By contrast, Sunny Fong, star and winner of Project Runway Canada Season Three, created an elegant and ladylike, beautifully draped, silhouette-hugging gown… Perfect for the red carpet!
- Originally from Russia, Ryerson graduate Anastasia Lomonova has become famous for her sophisticated and daring designs. Her contribution to the Cashmere Collection is no different: her Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin-inspired dress is a dramatic homage to 1960's Parisian chic. Ooh la la!
“The collection is an amazing way to celebrate the incredible courage and strength of women coping with breast cancer," says Lomonova, "and support them in their fight against the disease. Each one of us is an incredible, multi-faceted being. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, wives and professionals who are vulnerable yet strong – feminine yet powerful." (White Cashmere Collection 2009 Designer Profiles, September 2009.)
Sources
For more information about this event and these great designers, visit the Cashmere website or subscribe to The White Cashmere Collection fan page on Facebook.
Andree Lachapelle - Andrée reviews books, movies and local events, and brings you essential beauty, fashion, travel and wedding planning tips.
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