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Judith Leiber’s Handbags Sparkle at Mint Museum Exhibit

The notoriously tiny bags are big stars at the North Carolina museum

October 20, 2026

Colorful fish-shaped clutch purse adorned with shimmering beads on a gray background. — Judith Leiber *Fish Minaudiere,*

Hungarian-born accessory designer Judith Leiber became a byword for what women who could have any handbag they wanted carried when they knew they were being seen. Her coveted jewel-laden evening clutches could take whimsical shapes based on animals and food, or simply display their gorgeous materials.“Brilliant by Design: The Handbags of Judith Leiber” brings some 100 of Leiber’s dazzling creations to the Mint Museum Randolph.

Vintage rotary phone Judith Leiber handbag covered in pink and blue rhinestones, showcasing intricate detailing against a gray background. — Jana Matheson, Judith Leiber Couture *Pink Ringaling Rotary Phone Minaudiere*. Photo: Courtesy of The Mint Museum

“Judith Leiber elevated the handbag from an accessory to an artistic statement,” said exhibition curator Bridget Kerr, continuing, “This exhibition reveals not only the ingenuity and technical excellence behind her designs but also the inspiring story of a woman whose perseverance, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit reshaped the landscape of luxury fashion.”

For all the glamour, Leiber’s personal story contained darkness and frightful hardship. She was a Holocaust survivor who, at one point in the war, lived in a basement with 60 other people. Her original plan was to study chemistry, but she learned the craft of making bags as Nazi persecution limited educational opportunities for Jews. But deprivation never made her utilitarian. Lieber’s hard-fought destiny as an arbiter of peak luxury was a triumph of human resilience. She made luxury into resistance.

Golden butterfly-shaped Judith Leiber adorned with colorful gemstones, set against a plain background. — Judith Leiber *Butterfly Pillbox*. Photo: Courtesy of The Mint Museum

Leiber’s glittering, aspirational confections offered both the fantasy and the realization of a quote that she gave to Jewish Women International in 2013: “All you need is lipstick, a compact, and a $100 bill.” Modern handbag aficionados might replace the compact and the Benjamin with a cell phone and a credit card, but the dream remains the same. Sometimes, the most important and ceremonial moments of life match up to that unencumbered idea. The bags remain a worthy fantasy the rest of the time.