Margaretha Ley, 56, Top Designer And Manager Of Escada Fashions

MUNICH, Germany - Margaretha Ley, the top designer and manager of Europe's second-largest fashion outlet, Escada, has died in Munich. She was 56.

A statement issued by Mrs. Ley's family said she died of cancer Thursday at her home.

The Swedish-born Mrs. Ley and her husband, Wolfgang, powered Escada from sales of $168 million in 1986 to $875 million in 1991.

The company has outlets around the world, from Europe to New York to Taiwan. Mrs. Ley was known for creating colorful originals worn by such notables as Britain's Princess Diana and Queen Silvia of Sweden.

She worked for a time as a model for Jacques Fath and Christian Dior in Paris, and started in fashion design as a seamstress at the royal house of Sweden in Stockholm in the early 1960s.

A tireless worker who reportedly put in 100-hour weeks, Mrs. Ley had undergone an operation for stomach cancer at a Munich hospital in January, Bild newspaper of Hamburg reported.

Ley is survived by her husband, their 17-year-old son, Sven, and two daughters from her first marriage, Kristin Zrb, 35, and Karin Vatter-Zrb, 33, who live in the United States.