Judith Leiber

Renowned as a contemporary designer of fine handbags, Judith Leiber brings together the realms of art and fashion in her creations. Coveted by many, collected by celebrities and socialites, affordable by only a few, Judith Leiber bags are a wearable art-form, appearing in the collections of America's top museums and galleries. Judith Leiber day bags are fashioned in luxurious suedes, leathers and hand-pleated reptile skins. The evening collection is extravagant, with clasps decorated with onyx, lapis lazuli, amethyst, jade, rose quartz and other semi-precious stones. The miniaudieres, the tiny jewel-encrusted evening sachets for which she is most noted, are crafted in every conceivable shape or form - from animals and plants to eggs and ladybirds. This book tells the personal story of Judith Leiber, the "Bag Lady from Budapest". It traces her life from her roots in pre-World War II Hungary, where she was the first woman accepted into the Handbag Guild, to her emigration to the United States and the eventual opening of her own business in 1963.