Project Rehab

Gunn has spent his first year trying to figure out exactly what is wrong with the company at the design level and devising a plan to rebuild morale among the 200 designers whose creativity had been bled dry by years of bottom-line pressure. (At one point, Gunn gathered the designers for the DKNY Jeans brand and told them to design without considering price: " 'Bring us the most irresistible top you can conceive of,' " he recalls announcing. "The looks on their faces were as if they had been let out of jail.") He's also investing in the most-advanced technical tools for his designers and is working to implement a design philosophy that unites the company's disparate labels.

Gunn's other critical role is talent acquisition. He recruited John Bartlett as creative director for the Claiborne menswear line, and when executive vice president Dave McTague suggested hiring Mizrahi, Gunn enthusiastically supported it. Drawing on a connection from his Parsons days, Gunn also gave McComb an assist during negotiations with Narciso Rodriguez. Rodriguez (maker of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's wedding dress) had been on the brink of bankruptcy, a common enough fate in the fashion world, and had called Vogue's Anna Wintour pleading for help. She suggested Liz Claiborne and its new CEO. Rodriguez, who had supported Gunn during the Parsons insurrection, had concerns about joining a flagging behemoth, but Gunn reassured him and helped clinch the deal. "Tim's an influence builder, and he's very successful in changing people's minds," says McComb, who now has another legitimate name in his stable (not to mention the goodwill of Wintour, the most powerful woman in fashion).

The showroom on the 14th floor of the Liz Claiborne headquarters is stark white. Glass vases filled with fresh limes and lemons are strategically stationed throughout the airy room, along with the new spring collection. Gunn is taking a last tour before he's off to the tents at Fashion Week, where he'll be filming with the Project Runway designers as they show their lines for the season finale. His office will sit empty for a week while he's across the street at Parsons, shooting the rest of the episode.

Gripping a mustard-colored crinkled-patent-leather coat, Gunn argues that McComb's impact won't be fully realized until Mizrahi unveils his first collection for the company in spring 2009. He notes that Mizrahi's name will also eventually appear on the label, next to the founder's. Gunn says, "In this climate today, consumers like identifying a brand with a person." (Mizrahi is restricted from talking about his Liz Claiborne plans until his contract with Target expires later this year.)

McComb's pop-culture tilt is a bold gambit for a company desperate for relevance.

McComb's penchant for fashion personalities is a potentially shrewd gambit for a company desperate for visibility and relevance. Claiborne stock got a bump from the Mizrahi news: A week after the announcement, it was up 25%, adding $400 million in shareholder value (though much of that evaporated within a few weeks, after the earnings disappointment was announced). Still, McComb's celebrity strategy has consequences. Although Gunn started at the company in March 2007, his office has been largely vacant. Last year, he was on the road all of April, half of May, all of June and July, and half of August filming Project Runway and his new show Guide to Style, and doing a book tour. "I will tell you bluntly: It created some not-so-nice stuff around here for me," says Gunn. "There was this cynicism that Bill bought a personality."

"I will tell you bluntly: It created some not-so-nice stuff around here. There was this cynicism that Bill bought a personality."

McComb scoffs at the idea that Gunn is little more than a glorified spokesperson, "This isn't about his being a hawker for us." Not that Gunn isn't good at it: Last fall, McTague, a McComb recruit from Nike, hauled Gunn along on a three-month cross-country tour "to help me reinvigorate our connection to women shopping at Dillard's, Macy's, and Belk." Gunn channeled his best Guide to Style shtick via video, pumping up floor associates at the major department stores. But what made the biggest splash were the parking-lot fashion shows at malls in locales such as Little Rock, Arkansas, and Dallas. Crowds of 400 or more waited in line for hours -- and probably not to see Liz's newest sweater sets. "Tim's other [celebrity] world is in a watertight container, and I would never pollute it, never take advantage of it, and never ask for favors personally or corporately," McComb insists. But McComb also knows that Gunn is the kind of guy who cares about his new company the way he did about his students -- he'll do anything for it.