EXHIBIT 31(a)SECTION 302 CERTIFICATIONI, William L. McComb, certify that: 1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Liz Claiborne, Inc. (the“registrant”);  2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a materialfact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light ofthe circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to theperiod covered by this report;  3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial informationincluded in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition,results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periodspresented in this report;  4. The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing andmaintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e)and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange ActRules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have: (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosurecontrols andprocedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that materialinformationrelating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is madeknown to us byothers within those entities, particularly during the period in which thisreport is beingprepared;  (b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused suchinternal controlover financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to providereasonableassurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparationof financialstatements for external purposes in accordance with generally acceptedaccountingprinciples;  (c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls andprocedures andpresented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controlsand procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based onsuchevaluation; and  (d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control overfinancialreporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (theregistrant’sfourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materiallyaffected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control overfinancialreporting; and  5. The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our mostrecent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’sauditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or personsperforming the equivalent functions): (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operationof internalcontrol over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adverselyaffect theregistrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financialinformation; and  (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management orother employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internalcontrol over financial reporting.         Date: November 10, 2008 By:  /s/ William L. McComb    William L. McComb    Chief Executive Officer