Liz Claiborne

(1929 - )

Before Liz Claiborne's retirement from running her company she was a fashion designer and business executive. She was born in Ortenberg in Brussels, Belgium. She was born in 1929 and is still alive. She was raised in New Orleans. She still is a fashion designer. Her father was an American bank manager. She lived in Ortenberg until 1939. After World War II (1939-1945) she went back to Europe to study art. She went back because she didn't want to finish high school so she studied art instead of going to high school. In 1950, she won a fashion design contest which was sponsored by Harper's Bazaar magazine. Then she got a job as design assistant with a New York clothing manufacturer. She joined Jonathan Logan as chief designer of junior dresses. She left in 1976, after 25 years. She created a million-dollar-a-year business called Liz Claiborne, Inc., where she designed and made moderately priced sportswear for women, dark suits, then she went into men's clothing, accessories, and perfume. Her goal was to provide appropriate clothes for work or parties. In 1980 she was named the fashion industry's first Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year. The next year her company made a public stock offering. After that things started to change. She adding petite dresses and shoes. In 1986 the company was listed among the fortune 500 for the first time. In 1987, she was already president of the company,and she was elected chairman and chief executive of the company. She retired in 1989, and taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Parsons School of Design.

1998, by Alexandra, fourth grade

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