Kim Cattrall wants Canadian fashion on everyone's lips
Former Sex and the City star plugs homegrown talent as host of fashion awards show in Toronto
A fashion awards show might be "singing to the choir" but it does play a role in helping others take notice of growing talent, says actress Kim Cattrall.
The Canadian star hosted the annual Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards Friday in Toronto, which recognizes major achievement and emerging talent in the industry.
"Our job with events like this is to really expose and educate other people who might not know yet what we have and who we have and what they can do," Cattrall told CBC News on the red carpet before the event.
The 59-year-old is best known for her role over six years on the fashion-forward series Sex and the City and its subsequent two films, playing the uninhibited and career-driven Samantha Jones.
Cattrall, who was dressed in a Pink Tartan pantsuit and Ron White pumps, said part of the event involved hitting Toronto's streets prior to the awards show to see if people could name a home-grown fashion label.
"Some people were really up-to-the-minute and some people were still stumbling to think of one Canadian designer," she said. "But that's kind of where we are."
Cattrall, who currently plays a former model struggling with middle age on HBO Canada's Sensitive Skin, said she wears a Canadian designer as part of every outfit on the series.
"If I wear it on the show just as I did with Samantha on Sex and the City, people might say 'I like that jacket? Who designed it?'"
The prime minister's wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, also attended the event, along with supermodels Karlie Kloss, an American, and Coco Rocha, who is Canadian.
With files from Tashauna Reid