Kate Spade, fashion designer, found dead in her New York apartment at 55
Updated
Kate Spade, the designer who built a fashion empire on her signature handbags before selling the brand, has been found dead in her New York City apartment.
Key points:
- The New York Police Department confirmed the designer's death under her birth name
- Kate Spade New York released a statement calling the news "incredibly sad"
- Fans of the brand began posting pictures of their favourite handbags on social media
Police are investigating her death as an apparent suicide.
Spade, 55, was found by her housekeeper at her home on Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the New York Daily News reported, citing unnamed police officials.
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Born Katherine Noel Brosnahan, the Kansas City, Missouri native was a former accessories editor at the now-closed Mademoiselle magazine before she and Andy Spade launched their namesake design company, Kate Spade New York, in 1993. The couple married the following year.
They began by selling handbags before expanding to include clothing, jewellery, bedding, legwear and fragrances.
The brand grew into a fashion empire, known for accessories that offered affordable luxury to younger working women.
Her brightly coloured, clean-lined style offered a spunky take on fashion at a time when luxury handbags were out of reach to most consumers, and the industry was dominated by venerable European brands.
The couple sold the brand in 2006.
In 2016, they launched a new fashion brand called Frances Valentine, which sells footwear and accessories.
Tapestry Inc, the handbag company formerly known as Coach, bought the Kate Spade brand in May 2017 to tap millennials, who are drawn to the company's quirky satchels and colourful tote bags.
The deal also turned Coach into a multi-brand fashion house, a strategy that European counterparts such as Louis Vuitton have built their businesses on.
Kate Spade New York released a statement calling the news "incredibly sad".
"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."
The New York Police Department confirmed the designer's death under her birth name.
The city's chief medical examiner's office said the cause of death was under investigation.
Spade's business representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, the Council of Fashion Designers of America called Spade "a great talent who had an immeasurable impact on American fashion and the way the world viewed American accessories".
Spade told National Public Radio last year that she first discussed starting a handbag company with Andy Spade while they ate at a Mexican restaurant in 1991.
"I said, 'Honey, you don't just start a handbag company,'" she told NPR, "and he said, 'why not, how hard can it be?'"
Fans of the brand began posting pictures of their favourite handbags on social media in reaction to Kate Spade's death.
Reuters
Topics: fashion, human-interest, design, arts-and-entertainment, united-states
First posted
