Dame Deborah James has revealed that she has designed a range of clothes to be released to shoppers later this year. The cancer campaigner, who is at home receiving end-of-life care, took to Instagram to share a piece from the collection on Thursday (May 19).
BBC podcaster Dame Deborah says she has been working on the collection for several months with In The Style. Although the main collection "isn't quite ready yet", she says there is already a "whole host of beautiful floral dresses" - one of which she wore for her visit from Prince William to give her the Queen's honour on Saturday (May 14).
The newest piece she posted on her Instagram account - to share with her 780,000 followers - is a T-shirt with 'rebellious hope' printed on it. As of now, the T-shirt is available to buy, she announced, from this link, with 100% of profits going to Cancer Research UK.
In her post, she wrote: "I’m so excited to finally be able to share (at least part) of a project I’ve been working on for several months now. Together with the @inthestyle team I’ve been creating and designing a collection of beautiful clothes to hopefully make us all look good and feel great!!!
"The main collection isnt quite ready yet, although some of you will have noticed recently I’ve been sporting a whole host of beautiful floral dresses - which I can confirm were worn for my visit from Prince William!
"I cannot tell you guys how this partnership has kept me going through my hospital stays and taken me away from cancer. For years, I always talked about ‘Dressing up to make you feel better’ and over recent months all the ups and downs, being in and out of hospital, dressing up in nice clothes and popping on some Lippy has made a difference to my journey.
"Today though, as a sneak taster I wanted to share something really special….. As you all know I’ve always had a quote close to my heart… 'Rebellious Hope' so @inthestyle have kindly agreed with me to release a limited edition exclusive T-shirt in aid of @bowelbabefund which is available to order via the @inthestyle app NOW, with 100% of profits (minimum of £7.08 per t-shirt) from the sale of each one will be paid directly to Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.
She adds: "I am so thankful to the wonderful @inthestyle team and each of you for your support so far! I have added a link to the tshirt on my stories.
I can’t wait (or sadly I will be leaving it up to my family and ITS) to share the rest of the collection, which I’m also excited to say that the plan for that collection is that all profits will be in aid of the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK. Know that I’ve have had so much fun designing and curating everything and I hope you have just as much wearing it all x"
For the last five years, Dame Deborah has been undergoing treatment for Stage 4 bowel cancer. She has raised the profile of the disease through working on the You, Me and The Big C podcast for the BBC and writing newspaper columns for The Sun, among other outlets.
But on May 9, she announced that the treatments she had been undergoing were no longer effective. Her medical team and family decided, along with her, for her to move to her parents' home in Woking, Surrey. She has currently raised more than £5 million for cancer research as part of a fundraiser started when she announced that she was receiving end-of-life care.
