Liz Claiborne ... she'll be missed

It was 1976 and Liz Claiborne was in Oklahoma City for Fashion Week.
Yes, Oklahoma City really had it own Fashion Week.

Six months earlier, Claiborne had started her own company with clothing geared to women entering the workforce.

“I don’t want to dress a few beautiful people who have lots of money,” Claiborne told a reporter during her visit.
“To me that (working women’s fashions) is the natural area for designing. They’re more interesting people, more vital.”

Working women across the country embraced her affordable sportswear, mix-and-match pieces that could be combined to make dozens of looks.

Claiborne died Tuesday. She was 78.

She quickly became known as the American woman’s favorite designer because she paid attention to style, quality, fit and price.

What endeared the company and the designer to women across the country was that they felt a kinship with Claiborne, herself a working woman. She understood what women wanted from their clothes and how they wanted to dress.