Giuliana Camerino | Handbag designer, 90

Giuliana Coen Camerino, 90, designer of handbags carried by Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, and others, died Tuesday in Venice, Italy, home of the fashion house she founded in 1945 called Roberta di Camerino.

Ms. Camerino is credited with making handbags a fashion item. Her distinctive bags would typically sport brass clasps created by Venetian craftsmen who make accents for gondolas or be made of velvet woven on antique looms.

Ms. Camerino started designing handbags while in exile during World War II in Switzerland, where she fled to escape persecution of Jews in Italy. She created the name for her fashion house, which also made shoes and apparel, from the 1935 film Roberta starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and her husband's family name. Venice Mayor Giorgio Orsoni called Ms. Camerino a "friend and great Venetian entrepreneur . . . who contributed to spreading the name of Venice and Made in Italy in the whole world." - AP