Daring Tales

Last week I wrote that the blog itself was an adventure for me. Another major new adventure is starting my absolute dream job–Leadership Facilitator (similar to a teacher) at jetBlue. I start working there this coming Monday–guess what that day’s post is going to be about? 

What I really want to write about today is the founder of the company I’m leaving: Liz Claiborne. I think she was pretty remarkable and hope you will, too. Unfortunately, she died last year, before I had the chance to meet her.

Claiborne’s great accomplishment was in designing clothes for women entering the workplace in the 1970s and 80s. Before Claiborne, women’s work clothes tended to be dull and conservative, where hers were professional but also full of bold color and style. She also had a significant effect on how clothing is sold in department stores, insisting that all her clothes be sold in one localized area instead of the custom of mixing all designers’ clothes together.

The end result was that Liz Claiborne Inc was the first female-owned company to break into the Fortune 500.

I want to focus on the beginning, that first moment where little nineteen-year old Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne had to make The Choice. Go after the thing she wanted, knowing the real dangers? Or settle for whatever others had in store for her.

Liz Claiborne was born in Brussels. She never finished high school because her father insisted that it wasn’t necessary for a woman to be educated. Claiborne fell in love with design but kept it a secret from her family, designing only at nights when she could be certain of secrecy. Her parents didn’t know of her activity until Claiborne won a prestigious Harper’s design contest.

Claiborne decided to pursue a career in fashion against her parents’ wishes. Two years later, on a family trip driving through New York City, Claiborne declared, “I’m staying.” Her father took her bag out of the trunk, gave her fifty dollars, and responded “Good luck.” They didn’t speak for another twenty years. 

Think about how the world must have seemed to young Liz at that time. Fifty dollars in 1948 was still only the equivalent of $432 today. Liz threw away her support system, leaving only her work, the award, a room at her Grandmother’s, and maybe a few contacts. 

How foolish.

Imagine her first job as a sketcher for a dress maker. Imagine actually becoming part of the fashion world you left your family for–being around designers and craftsmen and models all the time. Your literally secret passion is now your full-time existence. Imagine actually changing that fashion world fundamentally. Imagine your work actually being recognized in your lifetime.

What a foolish, foolish person.

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