Liz Claiborne (born Elisabeth Claiborne Ortenberg March 31, 1929) is a Belgian-born fashion designer.

She was born in Brussels and raised in New Orleans. Rather than finishing high school, she went to Europe to study art. She worked in New York as a designer for 25 years before starting her own design company Liz Claiborne, Inc. in 1976. The firm grew from its origins designing active sportswear for women, to a billion-dollar enterprise with a full line of clothing for men and women.

She retired from active management in 1989.

The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Claiborne    2/6/06