Judith Leiber, Handbag Queen, Was A Jewish Immigrant Success Story

Image by Jenna Bascom/Courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Design
Judith Leiber’s life was one long surprise: Intended by her parents to go into the cosmetics industry, she chose to pursue handbag design, becoming the first female member of the Hungarian Handbag Guild. She survived the Holocaust first by living in a one-bedroom Budapest apartment with 25 other Jews, then in a ghetto basement where she was one of 60 occupants.
After American forces arrived, she met and fell in love with a Jewish G.I., Gerson “Gus” Leiber; they married, and he whisked her off to New York.
Once there, she shortly swept fashionable society off its feet. After landing a position with the handbag department of designer Nettie Rosenstein, Leiber’s work became in-demand after Mamie Eisenhower arrived to her husband’s inaugural ball carrying a Leiber-designed bag.
Leiber, who turned 96 this past January, went independent in 1963, and her trademark jewel-encrusted designs remain fashionable today: In recent years, celebrities such as Blake Lively and Jennifer Lopez have been spotted carrying them on the red carpet.
Now, Leiber’s work is being honored through an exhibit at Manhattan’s Museum of Art and Design. The exhibit, “Judith Leiber: Crafting a New York Story,” tracks the history of Leiber’s company, from its 1963 founding to 2004, when Leiber designed her last handbag.
“She was an immigrant who created a flourishing business—a story that has political and social relevance, especially today,” said the exhibit’s curator, Samantha De Tillio, in a press release. See some of her most astonishing work, included in the exhibit, in the slideshow above.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.