Jeffrey SussmanNo Mere Bagatelles

Excellent condition

Fascinating book for anyone interested in fashion and fashion history.

This is an extremely exciting book about Judith Leiber and her husband, Gerson Leiber. Judith is not only a resourceful Holocaust survivor, but also the creator of artful handbags that are in major museums around the country. In addition, each First Lady, since 1953, has carried a Judith Leiber handbag to her husband's presidential inauguration. Ther are 80 Judith Leiber handbags in the permanent collection of the Mettropolitan Museum of Art, and its curator has written a brilliant introduction to this book. Gerson Leiber is a major artist in his own right; his works are also in major museums around the country, and his works are regularly exhibited in important galleries.One story in this book is fascinating: While confined to a basement, along with 10 other families, during the Nazi occupation of Budapest, Judy and her family decide to venture out for a walk. They encounter a contingent of Gestapo, who arrested Judy's father. He was taken to a Nazi labor camp and forced to build anti-tank trenches. Judy was able to get a Swiss pass issued by a friend to gain the freedom of her father. Another friend discovered that the Pass was typed on an Olympia typewriter. He found another such typewriter, and after the father's name, he typed "And family," thus conferring diplomatic immunity on Judy's entire famil. As a result, they survived the Nazis. That Pass is now in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.