(FORTUNE Magazine) – That well-dressed, freshly coiffed woman busy window-shopping as she scurries to be in her Manhattan office by 7:30 a.m. could well be Linda Wachner, 45, CEO of clothing manufacturer Warnaco Group. She's checking out how Ungaro, | Christian Dior, and other brands she makes rate vs. the competition. Says she of her weekday habit: ''You see the landscape of fashion.'' Such pedestrian practices might be alien to other corporate leaders. But then, as the only woman to head a Fortune 500 company, Wachner knows how to break the mold. The onetime president of Max Factor cosmetics is taking Warnaco public to help raise some $100 million to pay down the $495 million debt incurred in her 1986 LBO of the company. Wachner hopes investors will see Warnaco as a gem. ''Consumers are turning their back on private labels,'' she says. ''They're looking for their old reliable Hathaway shirts and Warner's bras'' -- two other company lines. Last year Warnaco made its first profit -- $5.3 million on revenues of $594 million -- since the buyout. Wachner's days always begin with a 6 a.m. house call by her coiffeur, Carlo, and often include meetings at the Business Roundtable, a group of corporate chiefs, and advising the White House on trade policy. Her personal life has been on hold, but she soon hopes to visit her vacation home in the Rockies. Says she: ''I'm no God freak, but I get a very spiritual feeling out there. It's quite a bit different from how I feel coming out of the subway.''