Designer Kate Spade was found dead on Tuesday in her Manhattan Park Avenue apartment, the Associated Press is reporting. The apparent cause of death was suicide. She was 55.
She started her career working at Mademoiselle magazine in 1986 and launched her eponymous line of handbags and accessories in 1993 with her husband Andy Spade, whom she married in 1994 before opening her first store in Soho in 1996. The brand grew to include clothing, bedding, stationary, eyewear, baby items, and more. Spade was honoured by the CFDA in 1996 as “America’s New Fashion Talent in Accessories,” and again in 1998 as “Best Accessory Designer.”
Spade sold the majority of her company to Neiman Marcus Group in 1999 to focus on her family, and the remaining portion in 2006, but she re-entered the fashion industry with a new brand in 2016, Francis Valentine. She is survived by her husband and their 13-year-old daughter, Francis Beatrix.
If you are thinking about suicide, please contact Samaritans on 116 123. All calls are free and will be answered in confidence.