Finalists model in couture dresses made from bathroom tissue

Chanel. Dior. Bathroom tissue?

The CNTM finalists never imagined they’d be modeling in 3-ply but that’s exactly what happened when they arrived at Toronto’s Ultra Lounge, after being coached by runway expert and America’s Next Top Model judge Miss J.

“My bottom half completely came off,” said Nikita. “I had bathroom tissue around my ankles and covering my top part but I just worked it out … there was not much I could do.”

But the girls had no idea that was just the warm up.

Walking the catwalk in couture bathroom tissue

After shedding the bathroom tissue dresses, the finalists were told it was time for the real challenge. They would be wearing couture dresses made from Cashmere Bathroom Tissue, designed by top Canadian designers Thien Le, David Dixon, Joyce Gunhouse (for Comrags) and Lucian Matis. The dresses were originally created in 2008 as part of the ‘White Cashmere Collection: A Touch of Pink’ to raise awareness and funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

“It was so gorgeous, I could not believe it was made out of bathroom tissue,” said Meaghan of her couture gown. “The dress was way too big for me. I do not have boobs, so it did not stay up. I had to do this wonky hand thing to hold it up, which I don’t think is very flattering but if not it would’ve been around my waist.”

Lucian Matis, who designed the dress Meaghan wore, said she did well considering it was too big for her.

“I would’ve loved to have seen it pinned or clamped onto her bra or something because then I would’ve seen the flow of her and the movement of the body,” he said.

Designer David Dixon, who designed the dress Maryam wore, wanted to see more of her confidence come out.

“She had a great body, great face, but just a little bit too shy and timid on the runway,” he said.

Designer Joyce Gunhouse, who created the dress for Comrags that was worn by Nikita, liked her alternative look.

“I would’ve liked her to have a bit more fun with it but it fit perfectly.”

For Linsay, walking with a dress made out of bathroom tissue was even more nerve-wracking because it got ripped before she even stepped on the runway. While being helped into the dress by two stylists, Maryam reached over to help and accidentally tore the dress.

“She comes up out of nowhere and yanks it to yank it up and rips it,” said Linsay. “Once there’s already a rip, it doesn’t take much for the rip to grow. So it was like whatever. I wasn’t really mad at her; I just thought it was pretty stupid on her part.”

But Linsay still won the challenge.

“I thought Linsay deserved to win the challenge because I thought she walked well. She walked very well in the dress. For crying out loud, who, she’s wearing bathroom tissue,” said Miss J.

He thought all the girls did well.

“I mean we have a lot of great material to work with – which is great bodies, great legs, so that’s always a starter, and when we don’t have that I always say blame your parents for bad DNA.”

Miss J enjoyed the challenge and even got to wear his own dress, designed by Thien Le, who also made the dress worn by Linsay.

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“I got his height, his chest measurements, that’s all I had to work with,” said Le with a laugh.

“He’s a little bit over the top, but you know what he does wear it and he did a great job I think. I loved it. It was a great dress but he made the dress alive.”

For Nikita, meeting Miss J was the “highlight of her life.”

“I just really really hoped I would meet him and if we did at some point and I was eliminated before then, I would just never get over it. I love Miss J. He’s like my idol. He definitely gave me a few walking tips but other than that he said my walk was really good,” said Nikita.

“He’s such a character. He’s hilarious. Earlier we were doing the teach with him and he just made us laugh the entire time when he does his impressions of us when we were doing our walks and stuff like that. He was just a lot of fun,” echoed Linsay.

Cashmere campaign touched both designers and Miss J

Designer Thien Le says designing a dress out of bathroom tissue was a no-brainer, considering the cause behind it.

“When they asked me to design a dress I didn’t have a second thought about it because I have lost somebody from my staff to breast cancer last year,” said Le.

David Dixon said he was thinking about the family members he lost to cancer while making the dress. He said it was actually a cathartic experience for him.

“Basically what I did was I tore it to shreds,” said Dixon. “I just wanted to make something that was not so fragile and just the frustration of cancer, that was me getting my frustrations out, and I just thought hopefully … one day we won’t have to do breast cancer awareness anymore, that we’ll get rid of (breast cancer) all together.”

The limited edition Pink Cashmere Bathroom Tissue was developed in 2008, after the brand launched the White Cashmere collection a few years earlier.

Twenty-five cents from the sale of every package was donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, according to Nancy Marcus, VP of Marketing at Kruger Products, makers of Cashmere.

“It really raised the bar of what we’re doing and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation obviously did benefit, too, and they’ve been very much involved with us as partners,” said Kruger.

Raising awareness for breast cancer was not only an issue close to the designers, but to Miss J as he lost both his mother and sister to the disease.

“My mother battled breast cancer for 17 years and my sister died at 23 years old from breast cancer so … it’s just really important to me for people to have awareness,” said Miss J.

“Knowing that Miss J had personal conviction, but especially when we all heard the story about his mother passing away last year from breast cancer and his sister also, it really brought it all home. So there’s fun, yes, there’s beautiful fashion, but there’s also real compassion,” added Marcus.