Liz Claiborne: The Legend, The Woman »

In this book Art Ortenberg does not so much celebrate Liz Claiborne the designer and entrepreneur, but rather Liz the woman. Liz left us more than her work, he concludes, perhaps more than the consequences of her work; she left us herself. The making of that self, and the good she did for others, is the story I tell.

Publishers Weekly

Though it's more a tribute than a biography, this work from Liz Claiborne's husband and longtime business collaborator, Ortenberg, nevertheless provides a compelling behind-the-scenes portrait of the late, beloved fashion designer, focusing attention on the personal side of Claiborne's extraordinary business achievements (like becoming the first female owner of a Fortune 500 company). Born to privilege in 1929 Brussels (her family moved to America at the start of WWII), Claiborne learned responsibility from her parents and developed a powerful sense of ambition, allowing her to navigate the turbulent world of fashion; after decades of work, she would reach her pinnacle of international popularity in the logo-obsessed 1980s. While the first half of Ortenberg's paean makes an able account of the duo's workaday life, the second half is dominated by Claiborne's slow, painful struggle with ovarian cancer, an exhaustive (and exhausting) account of horrors suffered that could discourage all but the most committed readers. Color photos.
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