Liz Claiborne

Liz Claiborne (born March 31, 1929, Brussels, Belgium—died June 26, 2007, New York, New York, U.S.) was an American fashion designer who revolutionized the women’s apparel industry in the U.S. as the head designer and cofounder (with her husband, Arthur Ortenberg, and partners, Leonard Boxer and Jerome Chazen) in 1976 of the company that bears her name. At a time when career women were looking for an alternative to suits, her line of casual, comfortable, and colourful sportswear separates allowed customers to mix and match elements of their wardrobes (jackets, pants, skirts, sweaters, and blouses). Claiborne offered her collection at realistic prices, and her company executives persuaded retailers to merchandise all the related pieces of a collection together. Her designs, which were meant to be more functional than trendsetting, were nonetheless pathbreaking; in one season her velour peasant blouse sold 15,000 units.

Though Claiborne, who had close-cropped black hair and wore oversized glasses, preferred to wear trousers, she nonetheless diversified her business and created (1982) a dress division. She also introduced a shoe line, a short-lived (1984–87) collection for girls ages 5 to 12, accessories, jeans, a men’s label, and a perfume. In 1986 the sales of Liz Claiborne, Inc., reached $5.6 million, and the firm broke into the Fortune 500 list of the largest industrial companies in the U.S., the first on that list to be headed by a woman. The following year Claiborne was elected chairman of the board and CEO, but in 1989 she and her husband retired from active management in the fashion concern. Thereafter Claiborne stayed busy initiating environmental conservation projects handled by the charitable foundation she started.