Judith Leiber

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Judith Leiber , née Peto (born January 11, 1921 in Budapest ; died April 28, 2018 in Springs ( East Hampton , New York )) was a Hungarian-American designer of luxury handbags and fashion accessories.

life and work

Judith Peto grew up as a child of Jewish parents in Budapest. She received her first training in chemistry at King's College in England in 1938 and 1939 , but had to return to Budapest at the beginning of the Second World War and learned to be a bag maker . In 1939 she became a journeyman and later first master of the Hungarian Handbag Guild. Her father was in possession of a Swiss protection pass, which enabled the family to survive during the Nazi regime . After the war she made her own bags in a small workshop. During this time she met the American soldier and painterGerson Leiber , whom she married in 1946. She emigrated with him to the United States in 1947 .

After working as a handbag designer in New York City in the 1950s for various fashion companies, including Nettie Rosenstein (1948 to 1960), Richard Kort (1960 to 1961) and Morris Moskowitz (1961 to 1962), she founded the Helping her husband run her own label that expanded rapidly. In 1996 she opened her own boutique on Madison Avenue .

Judith Leiber designed handbags for Queen Elizabeth II and for the first ladies Mamie Eisenhower , Lady Bird Johnson , Pat Nixon , Nancy Reagan , Barbara Bush , Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush for the inauguration of the American presidents . In addition, numerous artists and actresses, such as Sarah Jessica Parker , Greta Garbo , Katy Perry , Kerry Washington , Kelly Osbourne and Jennifer Lopez belong to the clientele of the designer. The elegant clutches and minaudières , including the Cupcake and Swan models , from the Sex and the City series became famous . In addition to classic clutches, she made numerous evening handbags and minaudières , mostly adorned with pearls , rhinestones or Swarowski stones, for example in the form of animals, sweets, fruits and cupcakes. Judith Leiber has created more than 3000 different handbag models during her creative phase. Her handbags, which cost up to $ 7,000, were sold in their own flagship stores in New York, on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills , at Bergdorf Goodman , Neiman Marcus and Harrods . In the mid-1990s, she expanded her handbag production with an exclusive fashion jewelry collection.

The model socks and cupcake in the Hendrikje Cup Museum in Amsterdam

In 1998 Judith Leiber withdrew completely from business life. In 1993 the couple sold their successful company, which had 200 employees, to Time Products, Inc. , which they sold on to the Pegasus Apparel Group in 2000 . Since 2001 the Pegasus Apparel Group has operated as the Leiber Group . At the end of the 1990s, the company produced 100 handbag models a year. With the sale of the company, her brand name was also sold, which Judith Leiber later regretted, as she could no longer use her well-known name for the silver jewelry collection designed in later years.

She created over 3000 handbag designs in her lifetime. Her handbags are on display in the permanent exhibitions of numerous fashion and design museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London , the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Smithsonian Institute in Washington , the Houston Museum of Fine Arts , and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and exhibited in the Hendrikje Mug Museum in Amsterdam .

In 2005 the Leiber couple set up the Leiber Museum on their property on the Old Stone Highway in Springs (East Hampton), in which, in addition to the handbag collections, their husband's paintings are shown. Judith Leiber passed away at the age of 97 on April 28, 2018, just hours after her husband at her home in Springs.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • The Artist and Artisan: Gerson and Judith Leiber , Fine Arts Museum of Long Island (1991)
  • Judith Leiber - The Artful Handbag , Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York (1994)
  • Spring Retroactive , Atlanta (2001)

Awards

  • Swarovski Great Designer Award (1973)
  • Coty American Fashion Critics Award (1973)
  • Neiman Marcus Award (1980)
  • Foundation for the Fashion Industries Award (1991)
  • Silver Slipper Award (1992)
  • Handbag Designer of the Year Award (1992)
  • Council of Fashion Designers of America Award (1993)
  • Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers (1994)

Models (selection)

  • Teddy bear
  • Socks - evening handbag
  • Cupcake - Minaudière
  • Bird Crystal - Minaudière
  • Speccio faceted clutch
  • Ritz Fizz Crystal Clutch
  • Lily & Dragonfly Crystal - Minaudière
  • Crystal Scarab Beetle Clutch
  • Geometric Crystal Pyramid Clutch
  • New Rose Crystal - Minaudière
  • Strawberry Twist Cone - Minaudière
  • Fluffy Cat Crystal - Minaudière
  • Candy Crystal - Minaudière
  • Crystal-Embellished Tulip Clutch
  • Jet Crystal Embellished Clutch
  • Grape Cluster Crystal Clutch

literature

  • Richard Martin: The Artist & Artisan: Gerson and Judith Leiber , exhibition catalog, Hempstead, New York, 1991.
  • Bernadine Morris: The Portable Art of Leiber Handbags , New York Times, November 25, 1994
  • Enid Nemy, John Bigelow Taylor (Eds.): Judith Leiber - The artful handbag . Fashion Institute of Technology New York, HN Abrams, New York 1995, ISBN 978-0-8109-3571-6 , 159 pp.
  • Anne Stegemeyer: Who's Who in Fashion , Third Edition, New York 1996
  • Fashioning Art: Handbags by Judith Leiber , exhibition catalog Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2002, 31 pp.
  • Judith Leiber: Leiber . Abrams 2008, ISBN 978-0-8109-7105-9 , 228 pp.
  • Jeffrey Sussman: No Mere Bagatelles , Judith Leiber LLC, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-6153-3731-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Taylor K. Vecsey: Famed Evening Bag Designer Judith Leiber and Artist Husband Die Hours Apart. In: The East Hampton Star. April 29, 2018, archived from the original on May 2, 2018 ; accessed on April 30, 2018 .
  2. ↑ houstonchronicle.com: Handbag Designer Judith Leiber - on life, love and Texas , January 31, 2013 , accessed December 7, 2015
  3. ↑ Stephanie Pedersen: Handbags: What Every Woman Should Know , David & Charles, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7153-2495-0 , pp. 76f.
  4. ↑ fashion model directory: Judith Leiber retrieved on December 7, 2015
  5. ^ Anne-Marie Schiro: Judith Leiber is Retiring , New York Times, January 13, 1998
  6. ↑ houstonchronicle.com: Handbag Designer Judith Leiber - on life, love and Texas , January 31, 2013 , accessed December 7, 2015
  7. ↑ metmuseum.org: Interactive Search - Judith Leiber , accessed December 7, 2015
  8. ↑ collections.vam.ac.uk: Judith Leiber, Evening bag , accessed December 7, 2015
  9. ^ Sigrid Ivo: Bags: A Selection from the Museum of Bags & Purses Amsterdam: The Museum of Bags and Purses , Amsterdam. Uitgeverij Pepin Press, Amsterdam 2004. ISBN 978-90-5496-143-7 , p. 356 & p. 358
  10. ^ Website of the Leiber Museum , accessed on April 30, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Leiber, Judith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peto, Judith (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian-American fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 2018
Place of death Springs , ( East Hampton (New York) )