Liz Claiborne, the designer who built a global fashion empire by taking career women out of "uptight" suits and offering them a wide range of affordable, feminine and colorful separates that were stylish without being trendy, has died. She was 78.
Often called the working woman's best friend, Claiborne died Tuesday at New York Presbyterian Hospital after battling cancer for several years, a family spokesman said.
Although she catered to the masses with her namesake mall brand, Claiborne earned the respect of such high-fashion icons as Oscar de la Renta, who on Wednesday called her "one of the great pillars" of the industry, and Calvin Klein, who said she gave working women "originality and style."
She founded the Liz Claiborne label with her husband, Arthur Ortenberg, and two other partners in 1976 at the height of the feminist movement, when women were storming the workplace. The fashion industry had responded to the social revolution with pants and unimaginative tailored suits. Claiborne, by then a veteran of the fashion business, sensed an opportunity.
"At that point you either looked like a hippie or you looked like you were Donna Reed. She filled that hole," said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Assn. "That whole concept of sportswear as career clothing is her legacy."
Outspoken but wary of interviews, Claiborne had a commanding presence and distinctive appearance, with close-cropped black hair and huge black eyeglasses. When she went into business with Ortenberg, a textile executive, she wanted to design clothes for women like herself who wanted to dress attractively but didn't have the time or the fashion sense to put together appealing outfits.
"I wanted to dress busy and active women like myself -- women who dress in a rush and who weren't perfect," she once told Women's Wear Daily. She said her goal was to "bring good taste to a mass level."
Her success far exceeded predictions. After an initial investment of $250,000, Claiborne and Ortenberg turned a profit by the end of their first year. By the time the husband-and-wife team retired in 1989, Liz Claiborne Inc. was an apparel giant worth more than $1 billion.
Despite some major setbacks in recent years, the company now encompasses more than three dozen brands, including Juicy Couture and Lucky Brand Jeans. It reported $5 billion in sales in 2006.
