American fashion designer and co-owner of fashion brand Kate Spade New York was found dead inside her Upper East Side apartment in New York on Tuesday.
According to media reports, the 55-year-old hanged herself in an apparent suicide. She was found by her housekeeper along with a suicide note on the scene. Spade addressed her daughter in the note, according to two police sources. Spade’s husband also is referenced in the note as well.
Kate Spade was the designer whose colourful creations turned red carpets into rainbows.
Kate’s sister Reta Saffo stated that the sudden death was ‘not unexpected’. She further added that the fashion designer suffered from mental illness for years but refused treatment because she was concerned it would impact her brand.
“We are all devastated by today’s tragedy,” her family said in a statement through a spokesman. “We loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly. We would ask that our privacy is respected as we grieve during this very difficult time.”
Best known for its colourful handbags, Kate Spade New York started in 1993 and as of now has more than 140 retail shops and outlet stores across the United States and more than 175 stores internationally, the brand’s website states. Moreover, Spade started her company based on six shapes of bags that she thought every working woman needed. It created a smash.
Before making the jump to designing, she was a senior fashion editor at the fashion magazine Mademoiselle.
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 honour all the beauty she brought into this world,” the company said in a tweet.
The company expanded into other product lines after becoming a hit internationally. Six years later she sold a 56% stake in Kate Spade New York to Neiman Marcus Group; in 2006 she sold the rest of her shares.
In 2016, she and her partners launched a new fashion brand called Frances Valentine.
She won multiple awards from the CFDA and was named a “giant of design” by House Beautiful magazine as well as being inducted into America’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.
