Liz Claiborne

To Liz, with love from India.

Me in a Liz Claiborne top this morning at my dental clinic in Jamshedpur, India. Photo taken by my assistant.

Me and my assistants at a wedding last year. Photo by the author.

I hadn’t heard of Liz Claiborne before today. I usually dress Indian, in long shirts with loose pleated drawstring pants in bright colors and flowing stoles.

My US-based sister-in-law sent me some Liz Claiborne clothes and encouraged me to try tops and pants for their convenience and style. I had to overcome some cultural hesitation in order to try on and then wear the western clothes to work.

I feel gratitude towards Liz because clothes are usually either comfortable or they’re smart. They’re either easy to wash or they’re fashionable. Liz’s clothes check all of those boxes and make an average girl feel as fashionable as Barbie, while not getting in the way of a hard day’s work.

Left: me in Liz Claiborne. Right: me in a silk sari. Pictures and collage by author.

I read up on the late designer online and found that she was so successful because she designed clothes for that looked good on women with pear-shaped bodies. Liz designed clothes for busy women like herself. Before Liz, in the ‘70s, women’s clothes were either just like men’s clothes, but with a bow –…