Dame Deborah James unveils her charity clothing collection with In The Style

Dame Deborah James has revealed she has been secretly working on her own clothing collection and the first item she will be releasing is a T-shirt for charity.

The bowel cancer awareness champion, who is also known as Bowel Babe and has raised over £6m for charity, shared the news in a post on social media.

Teaming up with In The Style, James – who has stage 4 bowel cancer – said her main collection isn’t ready yet but revealed she had already worn one of the dresses when she met Prince William who personally delivered her damehood to her family home.

The 40-year-old 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 isn’t 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!”

The BBC podcaster went on to explain how channelling her creativity into the collection had served as a welcome distraction as she underwent gruelling treatment.

She said: “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.”

James confirmed her first release will be a white T-shirt featuring the slogan “Rebellious Heart” with “with 100% of profits” from the sale of each going towards her Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.

Posing in the T-shirt on Instagram, the mum-of-two explained: “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.”

James was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and over the years has kept her thousands of followers updated with candid accounts of her condition and treatment.

The former deputy head teacher announced earlier this month she has stopped active treatment and she is now receiving hospice-at-home care, unsure of how much longer she has left to live.

“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,” the post concluded.