<PAGE>


                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                           SECTION 302 CERTIFICATIONS

I, Josephine Chaus, the Chairwoman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of
Bernard Chaus, Inc., certify that:

         1.   I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Bernard Chaus,
              Inc. (the "Company") for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003 (this
              "Report");

         2.   Based on my knowledge, this Report does not contain any untrue
              statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
              necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the
              circumstances under which such statements were made, not
              misleading with respect to the period covered by this Report;

         3.   Based on my knowledge, the consolidated financial statements, and
              other financial information included in this Report, fairly
              present in all material respects the financial condition and
              results of operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and
              for, the periods presented in this Report;

         4.   The Company's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
              establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures
              (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the
              Company and we have:

              (a)  designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                   such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                   our supervision, to ensure that material information relating
                   to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
                   made known to us by others within those entities,
                   particularly during the period in which this Report is being
                   prepared;

              (b)  evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure
                   controls and procedures and presented in this Report our
                   conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                   controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
                   by this Report based on such evaluation; and

              (c)  disclosed in this Report any change in the Company's internal
                   control over financial reporting that occurred during the
                   Company's most recent fourth fiscal quarter that has
                   materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
                   affect, the Company's internal control over financial
                   reporting; and;

         5.   The Company's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,
              based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
              financial reporting, to the Company's auditors and the audit
              committee of the Company's board of directors (or persons
              performing the equivalent functions):

              (a)  all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                   design or operation of internal control over financial
                   reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                   Company's ability to record, process, summarize, and report
                   financial information; and

         6.   any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
              other employees who have a significant role in the Company's
              internal control over financial reporting.

September 8, 2003

                                 /s/ Josephine Chaus
                                 ------------------------------------------
                                 Josephine Chaus
                                 Chairwoman of the Board and Chief Executive
                                 Officer