Upsetting news from the world of fashion today as the famed designer and businesswoman Kate Spade, known best for the brand Kate Spade New York, is reportedly dead after committing suicide. She was found at 10:20 AM ET by her maid at her Park Avenue home and pronounced dead at the scene. She was 55. The information currently available to the public is limited, but what is known is that she hanged herself and that she left a note.
Kate Spade started at in fashion at Mademoiselle magazine in the 1980s, but she made a huge name for herself when she and Andy Spade (her husband and the brother of actor David Spade) launched Kate Spade handbags in 1993. Although the brand obviously began with a focus on handbags, the line expanded to include things like jewelry, shoes, bedding, and eyewear. By 1996, the brand opened a boutique in SoHo, and was known across the country.
The designer sold the remaining portion of her ownership stake in the Kate Spade brand in 2006 to allow her time off to raise her daughter, now 13 years old. But in 2016, she launched a fresh fashion brand, Francis Valentine. She is survived by her aforementioned husband, Andy, and daughterFrances Beatrix Spade.