To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure I would like Jeanne Beker’s new book My Heart On My Sleeve: Stories From a Life Well Worn—but it surprised me and I did. Born in Toronto to Holocaust survivors, Beker loved acting, dancing, and dressing up in the fashions conceived and created with the help of her mother’s sewing skills and displayed an interest in theatrical arts at an early age. Her fashion choices reflected the styles of the day with a touch of something extra.

Jeanne Beker is Canada’s foremost fashionista. She is not a designer. Not a model. Not even a member of the best-dressed set. However, Beker has been our conduit for fashion news and reporting to Canadians for decades. From her early days as a music video reporter on CITY-TV and throughout her career, she has kept us informed and current on news from the fashion capitals and capitalists of the world. As the host of Fashion Television, we have relied on Jeanne Beker.

Many people regard fashion as a frivolous sideline to real life. This book illustrates how fashion relates to real life. While it may bring us joy to get dressed up in wonderful outfits from time to time, we understand that not everyone has an interest in or access to the latest fashions. Fashion and style are different concepts and true aficionados adhere to the honesty of the latter over the superficiality of the former. It can be a reflection of our personality or it can be a kind of armour we hide behind when we face the world.

Heart On My Sleeve is Jeanne Beker’s personal story. The book is a quick read and written in easily digestible essay-style chapters each devoted to a particular fashion item that influenced her life story. Now that she is in her 70s, Beker’s story has its share of ups and downs, just like the rest of us. After two unsuccessful marriages, she is now happily partnered with someone who makes her happy and . . . dare it say it? . . . completes her story. I found the chapter about meeting Iain MacInnes and visiting his homeland in Scotland to be particularly interesting and heart-warming.

Beker is only five years younger than I am so I could easily relate to her youthful experiments with sixties and seventies fashion. It was surely a time unparalleled in fashion history and as boomers, we were so lucky to have been there to enjoy it—in real time. She shares stories of vintage pieces, couture gifts from world-famous designers, and special outfits that still hang in her closet. Dresses, boots, scarves, jewelry . . . everything generates memories and it’s those memories that enrich our lives as we age.

Encounters with famous people were part of Beker’s everyday life and name-dropping is unavoidable. She recounts these experiences with affection and mature hindsight that enrich the reader’s understanding of these people’s lives. Everyone has their challenges. She also freely shares her embarrassing moments as well her her triumphs.

Most recently Beker’s experiences have included a late-in-life battle with breast cancer. Many readers who have made a similar journey will find her experience reassuring.

Heart On My Sleeve will be of particular interest to boomers who accompanied Beker on the sidelines as she brought us all the latest music and fashion news over several decades. We ultimately all benefited from her information, her insights, and her experiences. I recommend this book as a lovely Christmas treat for yourself or a friend. Enjoy!

If you are not able to obtain a copy of Heart On My Sleeve by Jeanne Beker at your local bookstore or library, click on this link to have a copy delivered directly to your door or tablet. 

(Disclosure: I may receive a teeny, tiny commission. Thank you.)