Buying a Kate Spade handbag was a coming-of-age ritual for a generation of American women. The designer created an accessories empire that helped define the look of an era. The purses she made became a status symbol and a token of adulthood.
Ms. Spade, who was found dead Tuesday in what police characterized as a suicide by hanging, worked as an editor before making the leap to designing, constructing her first sketches from paper and Scotch tape. She would come to attach her name to a bounty of products, and ideas: home goods and china and towels and so much else, all of it poised atop the thin line between accessibility and luxury.
One of the first of a wave of American women contemporary designers who emerged in the 1990s, she built a brand on the appeal of clothes and accessories that made shoppers smile. She embodied her own aesthetic, with her proto-1960s bouffant, nerd glasses and playful grin. Beneath that image was a business mind that understood the opportunities in building a lifestyle brand, almost before the term officially existed.
Her name became a shorthand for the cute, clever bags that were an instant hit with cosmopolitan women in the early stages of their careers and, later, young girls — status symbols of a more attainable, all-American sort than a Fendi clutch or Chanel bag. Ms. Spade became the very visible face of her brand and paved the way for female lifestyle designers like Tory Burch or Jenna Lyons of J. Crew.
After news broke that the designer Kate Spade was found dead in her apartment this morning, her fans, and those of the company she founded with her husband Andy Spade in 1993, expressed admiration for her designs on social media.
Many people, including celebrities like Chelsea Clinton, Ivanka Trump, Mindy Kaling and Bette Midler, posted fond remembrances of the first Kate Spade bag they purchased.
(Read the news story on her death.)
Ms. Spade once said she created her own company because she was frustrated with the over-accessorized styles of handbags that were prevalent in the 1990s. She wanted “a functional bag that was sophisticated and had some style,” she told The New York Times in 1999.
Soon after the Spades opened their first store in SoHo, Ms. Spade’s designs became a coveted but accessible status symbol, winning industry awards and lifelong fans.
Andrew Toth/Getty Images
Retail icon Kate Spade, known for her eponymous fashion line, was found dead at her Manhattan apartment on Tuesday. The cause of death was an apparent suicide, an NYPD spokesperson told Forbes. She was 55 years old.
The news was first reported by the Associated Press.
Last year Spade made headlines after her label sold to Coach for $2.4 billion. But she didn’t cash in on that deal. In 1999 she and her partners sold 56% of the business to Neiman Marcus for $34 million, before offloading the remainder in 2006 for $59 million.
In 1993 Spade, a former accessories editor at Mademoiselle magazine, launched the brand alongside her future husband, Andy, whom she met in college. They funded the business with $35,000 Andy had saved. "Even my mother said I'd gotten cocky — and what the heck was I doing giving up a job with [health] insurance?" she told Forbes in 1998.
Just before her first trade show, Spade ripped out the labels bearing her name from the interior of the handbags and affixed them to the outside. After the products appeared in the pages of Vogue, they quickly became a smash success. Annual revenue climbed from less than $100,000 in 1993 to $1.5 million in 1995. By 1998 the company was hauling in $27 million in sales.
A week after the 2006 sale, Neiman Marcus sold Kate Spade to fashion giant Liz Claiborne for a reported $124 million, including debt. Then, in 2014, Liz Claiborne rebranded as Kate Spade & Co.
In 2016 Spade and her husband launched a new line called Frances Valentine, named for their daughter.
Editor's note: If you are suffering from depression or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) for free and confidential support.
New York (CNN) Kate Brosnahan Spade, who created an iconic, accessible handbag line that bridged Main Street and high-end fashion, hanged herself in an apparent suicide Tuesday at her Manhattan apartment, according to New York Police Department sources.
Police responded at 10:10 a.m. after Spade was found by her housekeeper, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said. A suicide note was found at the scene, he said. Spade addressed her daughter in the note, according to two NYPD sources. Spade's husband also is referenced in the note, according to one of the sources.
The designer, 55, started Kate Spade New York in 1993 and opened her first shop in the city three years later, the company's website states
"Debuting with just six silhouettes, she combined sleek, utilitarian shapes and colorful palettes in an entirely new way," the site says.
Best known for its colorful handbags, Kate Spade New York has more than 140 retail shops and outlet stores across the United States and more than 175 stores internationally, the site states.
Over time, she distanced herself from her business.
In 1999, she and her husband, Andy Spade, sold 56% of the brand to Neiman Marcus for $33.6 million. Liz Claiborne acquired the company in 2007, and Spade left her namesake brand. The luxury fashion company Coach announced plans in May 2017 to buy Kate Spade for $2.4 billion
Kate Spade New York issued a statement confirming the "incredibly sad news" of their eponymous founder's death.
"Although Kate has not been affiliated with the brand for more than a decade, she and her husband and creative partner, Andy, were the founders of our beloved brand," the statement said. "Kate will be dearly missed. Our thoughts are with Andy and the entire Spade family at this time."
"We honor all the beauty she brought into this world," the company said in a tweet.
More than a purse
Spade was found hanged by a scarf she allegedly tied to a doorknob, an NYPD source said.
Her death prompted an outpouring of grief among fans and her company's customers , including Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump.
My grandmother gave me my first Kate Spade bag when I was in college. I still have it. Holding Kate's family, friends and loved ones in my heart. — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) June 5, 2018
Kate Spade's tragic passing is a painful reminder that we never truly know another's pain or the burden they carry. If you are struggling with depression and contemplating suicide, please, please seek help. https://t.co/eruSexNoGj — Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 5, 2018
"Everyone remembers their first Kate Spade," CNN White House reporter and former fashion editor Kate Bennett said. "(The brand) became one of those accessible but quirky fun, timeless labels that everyone had to have, and her rise was synonymous with her name."
For many women, a Kate Spade handbag functioned as a symbol of professional achievement.
A year into being an attorney, my first splurge on myself was my (still) perfect #KateSpade black purse. Functional, crisp, professional, gorgeous. It takes a beautiful mind to design beautiful things. #RIP pic.twitter.com/NieF3sS7uI — ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕪𝕒 (@ChayaBaliga) June 5, 2018
I was 22 when I moved to NYC and got my first real job and it even paid overtime. My first check that had OT hours in it, I set aside that money and bought myself a @katespadeny bag. It was 1998 and I felt so proud and successful. #RIPKateSpade ♥️ — alyssa mastromonaco (@AlyssaMastro44) June 5, 2018
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, which held a star-studded awards ceremony Monday night, posted a statement from Diane von Furstenberg and Steven Kolb saying they were devastated to hear of Spade's death.
"She was a great talent who had an immeasurable impact on American fashion and the way the world viewed American accessories," the statement said.
Cindi Leive, a former editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine, said that part of Spade's legacy is that she put her entire personality into her work.
"She understood that women are going to respond to things that feel like they're made by a human, that they are expressing someone's personality," Leive said.
"If you put a pulse into it and every fiber of your being, people are going to respond. Now, that's kind of a given. Everybody wants to create their own personal lifestyle brand," she added. "But that was new at the time, and in a lot of ways, the contemporary version of it really came from her."
JUST WATCHED 2002: Kate Spade on her fashion inspiration Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 2002: Kate Spade on her fashion inspiration 01:15
Before making the jump to designing, she was a senior fashion editor at the fashion magazine Mademoiselle.
Conversation at restaurant inspired Spade
Last year, Spade and her husband spoke with NPR's "How I Built This" about how they developed the company into a major lifestyle brand.
"So, Andy and I were out, honestly, at a Mexican restaurant," Kate Spade said, "and he just said, what about handbags? And I said, honey, you just don't start a handbag company. And he said, why not? How hard can it be? (Laughter) I thought, OK, really? He regrets those words."
Asking for help The suicide rate in the United States has seen sharp increases in recent years. It's now the 10th leading cause of death in the country, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Studies have shown that the risk of suicide declines sharply when people call the national suicide hotline: 1-800-273-TALK There is also a crisis text line. The lines are staffed by a mix of paid professionals and unpaid volunteers trained in crisis and suicide intervention. The confidential environment, the 24-hour accessibility, a caller's ability to hang up at any time and the person-centered care have helped its success, advocates say.
Joe Zee, a fashion journalist who had worked with Spade, recalled her telling him of the vision to start the handbag line.
"This wasn't something women did or just anyone really did back then in the early '90s," he told CNN. "And to quit a coveted magazine editor's job to really be able to do that ... it was so visionary and so ahead of its time."
"She always had such a great ray of light about her. She was so jovial," Zee said.
