Anaheim man's toilet paper wedding dress is a finalist in design contest

The bride won’t pay big bucks if she says yes to this high-fashioned wedding dress, but she might need to be extra delicate – it’s made of toilet paper.

With rolls of Charmin, glue, tape and thread, Anaheim local Frank Cazares, 26, fashioned a functional dress now in the running to win the 11th annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest hosted by Cheap Chic Weddings. Charmin is the sponsor and sole brand used for contest.

Should he win, Cazares will receive $10,000 and his dress will be produced and sold – in fabric – by Kleinfeld Bridal.

The dress took two weeks, 34 rolls of toilet paper and yards of duct tape to put together. He joked it also took a lot of patience.

"I would wake up some mornings covered in toilet paper dust," said Cazares, who has a design degree and works for The Walt Disney Company.

A duct tape bodice gives the dress structure. Cazares then layered on paper mache toilet paper.

From there he built down and out, adding on the sleeves and the train, which is made entirely of thread.

Taking the longest, hundreds of individual toilet paper squares were twisted to make small ruffles to give the dress texture.

Cazares said he wanted all of the time and intricate detail put into the gown to have meaning. Everything you see on the dress is inspired by his aunt, a 10-year survivor of breast cancer.

"My dress is named Hope. It’s inspired by women affected by breast cancer," he said. "The sleeves come out like the cancer ribbon, but it’s also a heart. There are a lot of hearts throughout the design, actually. The hat is a heart that’s folded and then butterflies are a symbol relating to breast cancer.

"I want it to be a dress for any woman of any age who has been affected by breast cancer," he said. "I wanted to make a negative experience something inspirational."

Jeff Becker, a coworker and friend of four years, says that it’s this creativity and passion that likely sets Cazares apart from other contestants.

"A lot of the other dresses I’ve seen from other people, they’re beautiful but a lot look like something you’d buy out of a store," Becker said. "Frank’s is so completely different and innovative. I knew without him telling me exactly what the dress was communicating."

Cazares discovered the contest last year just two days before the deadline, but that didn’t stop him from entering.

"I would get home from work and stay up all night working on it," said Cazares. "I sent in the photos and got an email five minutes later that I was a finalist."

As a runner up, Cazares received a lifetime supply of toilet paper – put to use for this year’s dress.

Susan Bain, the co-founder of Cheap Chic Weddings, said, "It’s very rare when someone, on the first time they try, makes the top 10. He is probably the rarest of them all, doing it after only two days."

This year, the website received 1,498 entries – narrowed down to the 10 finalists. A winner will be picked on June 17 at a live event in New York City judged for the first time by Mara Urshel, co-owner of Kleinfeld Bridal, and Mikie Russo, celebrity wedding planner.

The day of the event looks like a hectic scene out of design show "Project Runway," Cazares said.

"We meet at 8:30 to get ready, then we meet our models for the first time. Most of us don’t know our models. At 9 they deliver the dresses, then exactly at 9:30 they have the runway and photo-shoot start. Meanwhile we only have those 30 minutes between to alter the dresses to fit models we’ve never had try on the dress before," Cazares said.

The exposure of a win could help Cazares move closer to the fashion scene and focus on design. His family and friends think he has a good chance with the dress he designed for this year’s entry.

"He’s got the talented gene," Amy Cazares, Frank’s cousin, said. "I feel like he has a pretty good chance because he has so much passion about what he does and why he does it."

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