Paul Hardy counts the ways that the Fashion Television – seen her in 1988 – has inspired him. Photo: Courtesy of CTV
Few people have been privy to the world of glamour and fashion the way that Jeanne Beker has. The former host of Fashion Television and The NewMusic can regale you with stories about everyone from Alexander McQueen and Kate Moss to Gordon Lightfoot and Madonna. Many of those anecdotes are in her new (and third) memoir, Heart on My Sleeve, along with the harrowing tale of how her mother survived the Holocaust before immigrating to Canada, and Beker’s thoughts on her own survival story, beating breast cancer just last year. But what can’t be found in the book is how Beker, 72, also fits into the stories of so many Canadians, who’ve been entertained, educated and inspired by her since she hit the airwaves in 1979.
Fashion design star Paul Hardy (who’s dressed Kate Hudson, Sarah McLachlan and Bette Midler) is one of those people. “As a boy growing up in the prairies of Winnipeg, there was little access to international fashion,” says Hardy, who’s now based in Calgary. “Jeanne’s reporting from around the globe exposed me to an industry that became a governing arena in social culture. Moreover, she brought a humanity to that world – giving voices to both faces and social causes during an era where mainstream society was either ignorant or indifferent to people impacted by epidemics like the AIDS crisis. All that to say, she felt familiar and known to me.”
How fitting then that when Hardy was showcasing his very first collection at Toronto Fashion Week in 2002, Beker stopped by to take a look, and her subsequent article on him in the National Post and interview with him on Fashion Television “was arguably the catalyst for catapulting my career,” he says. Now after two decades of mutual admiration and friendship, Hardy and Beker are preparing something special together, co-curating a 2026 exhibit for Calgary’s Glenbow Museum, called OBSESSION: The Unscripted Life of Jeanne Beker, featuring personal artifacts, ephemera and designer clothes from her life and, in particular, her years on FT.
5 Things Paul Hardy Has come to love about Canada’s ultimate fashion insider …
1. Her curiosity about others. She makes people feel seen and valued, and that’s the trait that I believe compelled fashion industry people to view her as more than just a reporter trying to get the story.
2. Her openness about herself. She is irreverently transparent, which makes her authentically raw and relatable.
3. Her devotion to her children. I’ve had the pleasure of observing how she consistently prioritizes her daughters, Bekky and Joey (now in their 30s), amid her unrivalled work schedule.
4. Her sentimental nature. It’s made her a bit of an intentional hoarder because everything she retains has a story and personal connection for her. For better or worse, she is a museum curator’s dream, because she keeps almost everything.
A version of this article appeared in the October/November 2024 issue with the headline ‘I Dream of Jeanne’, p. 92.
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