Liz Claiborne's life was recently celebrated by her husband, Arthur Ortenberg, in a love letter of a book titled "Liz Claiborne: The Legend, The Woman" (Taylor Trade, $24.95, April 2010).

It's not exactly the collection of hearts, flowers, and insidery stories you'd expect. Instead, it's the tale of an always-in-control, strong woman living with a disease -- cancer -- that she had no control over and that ultimately killed her. Ortenberg, her partner of 50 years, chatted with StyleList about the book, the woman, and her fixation with red.

StyleList: What were you trying to convey with this book?
Arthur Ortenberg: As Liz was dying, the last six weeks in the hospital, I realized everybody's objective had become blurred. I was doing anything I could to keep her alive. I use the book as a penance for almost, in a way, forcing her to live.

I marvel at the fact that the photograph on the cover is such an active, vital Liz. And I show you such a different Liz – a Liz not in control of her body functions. I'm sorry about that, I really am. We had a beautiful life while she was alive. If I had to do the book over again, I'd concentrate probably a little bit less on the end and more on the joy.

SL: When you met, was it love at first sight?
AO: I met Liz in the early '50s. She had been married to another gentleman, and I had married unwisely and young. I was running a dress division for a large, inexpensive manufacturer of clothing at a time when the country was going sportswear. I needed a designer. I contacted this designer, whose name was Liz Schultz. She had just had a baby and when she came in for the interview, love was born. In my eyes, she was absolutely gorgeous. I really never even saw her sketches. She was hired immediately.


SL: How did it feel to be married to an icon?
AO: It felt absolutely marvelous. She herself said, "Art always said I would be the driver of the car. The team would be in the pit to change my tires and wheels and get me back on the field faster than anyone. I would drive, and he would carry the banner." And I did.

SL: Liz Claiborne, Inc. was revolutionary because it was led by a woman in a time when that was rare. How did that change the way things were done?
AO: Liz managed through example, through kindness, and through silence, rather than any criticisms that would be hurtful.

SL: You say in the book that after you both left the company, you stayed on the board but should have made more of a clean break. Do you regret not having done that?
AO: I think we did the right thing, in terms of appearances. Liz did not want the company to feel abandoned. We made some mistakes, in terms of the people selected to follow us. Neither of us had the willingness to play games at the board meetings, and get involved in the typical wrestling for power.

SL: You talk about her red nails quite a bit. How did that red become her signature?
AO: I guess she came out of the womb with that in her DNA. She just hated reds that had blue in them. And little by little, she gravitated toward tomato red. Her nails were tomato red, her glasses rims were tomato red.

She was buried in an urn at Triple Eight Ranch, in Montana, that was Liz red. I [recently] moved the urn, and it [had turned] very blue. I had the local auto-body shop scrape it, blast it, and re-lacquer it. Liz is now buried in the world's most beautiful Liz-red urn.

In related news, read about a book celebrating another female icon: Wonder Woman.