By Alison McGill
The Cashmere Collection runway show is a highlight of Toronto’s fall fashion season. This year’s event, Symphony, was held last week at Evergreen Brick Works and showcased the work of 16 designers from across Canada, who were tasked with creating one-of-a-kind designs from bathroom tissue.
Over the past 22 years, the show has raised more than $5.6 million for the Breast Cancer Cause. Designers participating in the 2026 show were a curated mix of Cashmere Collection veterans and several newcomers. Participants included Antoinette Di Carlo, Christopher Paunil, Donn Sabean, Catherine Addai, Kelsey Erin, Lesley Hampton, Nikki Yassemi, Oscar Mendoza, Sam Wong, Claudette Floyd, Curtis Matysek, Funmilayo Odeniyi, Richard Wei, Somaya Ahmadi, Sudha Arjun Sharma, and Tia Kureshi.
Montreal designer Antoinette Di Carlo has been part of the annual showcase for many years and says one of the things she loves most about the event is that it brings together two of her passions—fashion and giving back. “I love the challenge of transforming such an unexpected and delicate material into something beautiful, while knowing that the work also helps bring awareness to breast cancer and supports an important cause,” Di Carlo says.
How difficult is it to create haute couture using bathroom tissue? Di Carlo says the process is both creatively challenging and incredibly rewarding. “We have experience from participating in previous seasons, but every design reacts differently, so there is always a lot of trial and error. This year, we reinforced the tissue with a canvas base so that we could create and manipulate the pleats while maintaining the structure of the dress.”
For this year’s Cashmere Collection, Di Carlo created a sculptural mini dress with a sheer underskirt dotted with glittering microcrystals. “My design is a feminine, timeless silhouette with a touch of drama,” she says. “I was inspired by the theme, Symphony, and interpreted it through the pleating around the corset and waist, creating an outburst of tissue that feels almost like the crescendo and finale of a musical piece. I added subtle touches of sparkle to enhance that sense of movement and drama.”
Di Carlo says the overall creative process for her Cashmere Collection design took approximately four weeks. “I prefer to work on a design in stages,” she says. “I might spend a few hours draping and manipulating the tissue on the mannequin, then step away and let the idea develop before coming back to it the next day. That process of observing, experimenting and building on the idea gradually allowed the design to evolve naturally until everything came together.”
This year’s Cashmere Collection was brimming with romantic, dramatic and fashion-forward designs, which you can now see here online. Cashmere invites you to vote for your favourite, and for every vote, it will donate one dollar to the Breast Cancer Cause. You can vote daily until November 15th; each vote also enters you for a chance to win a grand prize of $5,000.
We love when fashion and philanthropy come together in such a beautiful, artful and meaningful way.
