Virginia Postrel dedicates her new book, “The Power of Glamour,” to billionaire Ronald Perelman, a man she has never met.
In 2007, days after the author and Bloomberg View columnist received her book contract, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and given a 50 percent chance of survival. She credits her full recovery to the breakthrough drug Herceptin, approved by the FDA in 2006 following clinical trials funded by Perelman and his company Revlon with LA philanthropist Lilly Tartikoff Karatz. They created the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program in 1990 under Dr. Dennis Slamon and helped fund it with events like the annual Fire and Ice Ball in Hollywood.
Postrel writes in the dedication, “In a very real way I owe my life to the glamour of makeup and movie stars.” With the book days from release, New Yorkers are lining up to greet her. The Couture Council for the Museum at FIT has organized a party Tuesday at the home of Jean Shafiroff, and Ruth Lande Shuman and Publicolor are also throwing a brunch.