Heart on My Sleeve

August 5, 2024
FashionTelevision host Beker recalls her childhood fascinations, dishes on her celebrity interviews, and dispenses valuable style advice in her intimate debut. She begins by tracing her love of fashion to Betsy, a paper doll she cut out from the pages of McCall’s magazine while growing up in 1950s Toronto, because her Holocaust survivor parents couldn’t afford to buy her a Barbie. The experience of dressing Betsy “taught me the power of original style and the importance of self-expression through wardrobe,” Beker writes. From there, Beker balances chatty passages about her conversations with fashion luminaries—including Oscar de la Renta, who told her, during their final interview before his death, that “life was all about” being happy, and knowing Beker made him happy—with more ruminative sections, including several about her 2022 breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Her prose is endearingly conversational, if occasionally glib (“Fashion itself may not make the world go round, but... it brings color and attitude to life’s big ride”), as she catalogs her favorite wardrobe pieces (a Chanel maternity dress from Karl Lagerfeld stands out) and paints memorable portraits of her family and friends. It’s a pleasure to spend time in Beker’s company.