Reality check, Liz Claiborne scraps the fantasy

When Altschiller Reitzfeld won the Liz Clairborne account in 1987, sales were booming at around $1.5 billion. And the nation was already awash with “Lizzies,” the faithful women who exclusively buy the Liz label. But the 17-year-old iashion house, which thus far had relied on department store co-op advertising, had made little headway in the fragrance market. First off, Altschiller Reitzield (which had handled such clients as Diane Von Furstenberg and Revlon) relaunched the languishing, one-year-old Liz Claiborne scent, aimed at young women in their teens and 20s.