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Judith Leiber, handbag-maker extraordinaire, died over the weekend. Although she made many kinds of bags, her best-known work were her minaudières, which is French for coquettish air, bags so small and so full of crystals that they could be classified as jewelry for a woman’s palm. These minaudieres were status symbols, worn by celebrities and…
Former First Lady and First Mom Barbara Bush left us on April 17, 2018. No other woman besides Abigail Adams held both titles in history. She died in 1818, exactly 200 years ago. Besides that fact, Barbara Pierce Bush left a legacy as fashion icon like no other. Bush was “every woman’s mentor” on how…
2017 has, collectively, been few people’s ideas of a fun year. Still, it’s welcomed a wealth of excellent journalism. While we’ve previously celebrated work from other outlets, the Forward’s staff has also chosen our own most exceptional work from this year — our 120th in business. My picks include Sam Kestenbaum’s deeply reported “How This…
Fashionable evening bags are one thing. But Judith Leiber’s handbags marry exquisitely detailed craftsmanship with a joyously bold, at moments, anarchistic, vision. Close to 100 bejeweled silver and gold-plated high-end “after five” handbags — including Leiber’s iconic evening purses (minaudieres) sculpted to evoke various vegetables and small animals — are on display in the stunning…
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…
