Cancer and Fashion

I’ve owned this book –“No Time to Die” by Liz Tilberis--for years and never sat down to read it until now. That makes no sense to me because this is a book about two things that I love to read and write about: Cancer and Fashion.

Yes, how about that for a combination? And it works.

Liz Tilberis was the Editor-in-Chief at Harper’s Bazaar. She was living quite a glamorous and very hard working life—magazines are hard work—when at 41, she was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer.

This book has all you would expect: stories of celebrities and designers and oncologists and treatments…and the most expensive cancer wig you have ever heard about. Let it be said Liz Tilberis looked as good as any woman can look with cancer and brutal chemo treatments.

But the book has more than the typical cancer memoir and more than a fashion editor’s story. Liz was also a Mom and wife and great friend—and British, and this book covers all of those topics too.

If you loved Diana Spencer—there is a lot of Diana in this book. If you liked “The Devil Wears Prada” there is a lot of behind the scenes for you here, and if you or a friend has Ovarian Cancer you’ll see what you have in common and what the special perks are for the wealthy and well known in Cancer Land. Yes, there is a teeny bit of a social hierarchy in cancer.

I loved this book and loved learning about Liz Tilberis. It is no secret that she died of her cancer. But what I can take away is how she lived with cancer and the choices she made to make her life as an executive and a Mom –also with cancer.