UPDATE: July 13, 2017 – Katie Stutheit has been chosen as Lethbridge College’s representative for the Canada-wide White Cashmere Collection 2017 competition.
Stutheit was one of 11 Lethbridge College students to create original couture made of Cashmere Bathroom Tissue. Her dress, based on Canada’s iconic trillium flower, was selected as one of 16 designs from across Canada that will be shown on the runway during an exclusive event at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on Sept. 28. Three designs will be chosen to win fashion bursaries from Cashmere.
Stutheit called the process “the most remarkable opportunity to celebrate who I am as a Canadian and who I am as a young designer.”
Read more about the competition and see all of the chosen designs online.
ORIGINAL NEWS RELEASE:
Lethbridge College is joining in as Canada’s one-of-a-kind, high-fashion design celebration, the White Cashmere Collection, returns to the runway this September with a new twist. The exclusive, internationally-acclaimed showcase for Canada’s top fashion designers will call on students across the nation to showcase their creativity, technical proficiency and design devotion to reflect their interpretations of iconic Canadian style in celebration of #Canada150.
Eleven top Canadian fashion design schools, including Lethbridge College, have enrolled in the White Cashmere Collection Student Design Competition 2017. More than 150 students from across the country will create original couture crafted in luxuriously soft Cashmere Bathroom Tissue (BT), Canada’s best-selling brand.
Other institutions participating in the semester-long design challenge include George Brown College, Ryerson University and Seneca College in Toronto; Collège La Salle and Cégep Marie-Victorin in Montréal; Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Blanche Macdonald Centre and Visual College of Art and Design of Vancouver in British Columbia; Olds College in Alberta; and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
"Cashmere is such a fantastic opportunity for students,” says Lethbridge College Fashion Design and Sustainable Production instructor Deanna Brouwer. “Previous designers have had exposure on national media such as ET Canada, CityLine and Stephen and Chris. Lethbridge College will be sending one finalist to the high profile fashion show and we are super excited to represent Lethbridge College in this way.”
Eleven Lethbridge College students from the Fashion Design and Sustainable Production program will design and create dresses made out of Cashmere BT, with one being chosen to represent the college at the national competition.
Sixteen student finalists from across Canada will be chosen to debut their original Cashmere BT couture at a Canada150-themed, invite-only, VIP fashion show on Thursday, Sept. 28, at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto. An elite panel of Canadian fashion community celebrity judges will select three winners to receive Cashmere fashion bursaries to further their education and fashion design dreams. First prize is $4,000, second is $2,000 and third is $1,000.
“What we love is that we can show off how we can easily compete with larger institutions in the major cities,” says Brouwer. “Lethbridge College turns out some amazing fashion professionals."
Creating One-of-a-Kind Cashmere BT Couture
Creating BT Couture with Cashmere is a creative design challenge like no other, and provides true-to-life educational experience. To help students with the learning curve, Cashmere has recruited past collection designers to serve as Student Mentors. Haithem Elkadiki visited Lethbridge College in March to meet with students. Other mentors include such well-known names as UNTTLD design duo Simon Bélanger and José Manuel St-Jacques, Paul Hardy, Jason Matlo, Lisa Drader-Murphy, Joseph Tassoni, and Farley Chatto, Artistic Director for the White Cashmere Collection 2017.
Now celebrating its 14th year as a national and international platform to discover and promote Canada’s brightest fashion stars, the White Cashmere Collection has featured more than 165 notable Canadian fashion designers including 2008 Lethbridge College alumna Caitlin Power, Marie Saint Pierre, Denis Gagnon, David Dixon, Sunny Fong, Alan Ta and Joseph Helmer. The collection staged its inaugural Student Design Competition in 2006. Simon Bélanger, now a partner in Canada’s luxury fashion label, UNTTLD, recipient of CAFA’s 2006 Emerging Talent Award, was named its first-ever winner.
The annual kick-off to October Breast Cancer Month, the White Cashmere Collection heralds the return of limited-edition Cashmere in support of breast cancer efforts. Twenty-five cents from the sale of every package goes directly to the breast cancer cause and Canada’s fashion students not only get the chance to kick-start their design careers, but also to make a difference in the lives of Canadian women and their families affected by breast cancer.