Liz Claiborne
by Cavewoman

This week, the fashion world mourns another icon, Liz Claiborne. With a little internet research, I found out that Liz Claiborne was raised in a strict Catholic home in New Orleans, and went to France to study rather than finish her education in the USA. She had a vision of affordable, relaxed mix-and-match clothing pieces that no other company at the time would even consider, and so she started her own company. To me, Liz Claiborne is the Queen of American Sportswear. She wanted women in the workplace to have chic, affordable, versatile, and quality clothing in their closets, and with her company, she revolutionized the way we buy our clothes even today.

With the fabulous Tim Gunn as the new Chief Creative Officer of the Liz Claiborne companies, the future is bright for LC. With over 40 brands under the Claiborne umbrella, chances are that somewhere in your closet, or possibly your perfume tray, you have something from a LC company. The Liz Claiborne company includes the last of the "bridge" designers such as Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman, Kate Spade, Laundry by Shelli Segal, and Sigrid Olsen, as well as trendy Lucky Brand, Juicy Couture, Kenzie, Mexx, and Villager, and the venerable costume jewelry companies Monet and Trifari. And recently, the company also acquired Narciso Rodriguez.

I once heard that in a scent test, the original Liz Claiborne fragrance in the triangle-shaped bottle won as the most favorite scent among men. I think I have a bottle around here somewhere. I'll take a sniff and lift my bottle to a true woman's woman, Liz Claiborne. She may be gone, but her influence on the fashion industry, her vision of what American women like to wear, and the way we shop for our wardrobes will live on forever.