Judith Leiber: The Artful Handbag

by Enid Nemy, Judith Leiber (Designer), John Bigelow Taylor (Photographer)

Pages are clean and binding is tight.

Genres: Reference

159 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 1995

Reviews

[Ligaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of amazing photographs of sumptuous luxury handbags by Judith Leiber. The author gives a brief history of Judith Leiber's life, drops lots of names, but gives little information on how the bags are actually made. The writing style seems rather dated but luckily, there is more photography than text! Fun to gawk over.

[Rebecca McNamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enid Nemy's Judith Leiber is both a beautiful coffee-table book and an excellent introduction to the work of handbag designer Judith Leiber. Judith Leiber's handbags are whimsical artistic treasures—high-end prized luxuries and today, many are even museum-quality artworks. Published in 1995, the book can feel outdated and static in its design. With so many glimmering rhinestones on the bags, the lack of detail photography or multiple photographs of a single piece showcased from additional angles are missed opportunities. The text, primarily written in a conversational tone, is lively, engaging, and fun to read. The five chapters offer a biography, a discussion of the bags themselves and how they are made, anecdotes from Judith Leiber handbag collectors and stories revealing their love of these functional artworks, and finally, a brief and unfortunately overly vague chapter on handbag history since at least the 12th century. Overall, if you are a fan of decorative arts, fashion, or whimsy, this book is worth having in your collection.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Leiber's life reads like fiction. Interesting text, sumptuously illustrated with color photos of outrageous handbags.