Famed Fashion Designer Kate Spade Found Dead at Age 55
Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead by housekeeping staff in her apartment in New York City Tuesday morning.
Law enforcement officials pronounced the 55-year-old dead by apparent suicide at 10:20 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
A note was reportedly found inside the home with Spade’s body, though officials have not yet released the contents of the note.
Katherine Brosnahan Spade was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in December 1962. She graduated from Arizona State University in 1985 with a degree in journalism.
Spade got her start as an accessories editor for Mademoiselle magazine in the 1980s.
She set out to design the perfect handbag in 1993 with then-boyfriend Andy Spade who she met in college. Kate Spade Handbags then transformed into a full-scale clothing and jewelry line.
The couple got married in 1994 and watched their company grow together.
The first Kate Spade store opened in New York City in 1996.
“Women and fashion editors fell for the fresh, modern sensibility, and our first shop in New York City swiftly opened in 1996,” the Kate Spade website reads. “As the company grew, our graphic approach and trademark wit created a visual shorthand for a brand recognizable the world over.”
Spade sold the company in 2007 to raise her daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade, who was born in February 2005.
Just nine years later, Spade re-entered the fashion world in 2016 with the brand Frances Valentine.
Kate Spade New York now has over 140 retail shops and outlet stores in the United States and over 175 international stores.
This story is still developing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Spade family during this difficult time.
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