Kate Spade, accessory fashion designer, dead in apparent suicide

Kate Spade, accessory fashion designer, dead in apparent suicide

Millions of people across the world have flooded social media with tributes expressing their sadness at the death of renowned designer of clothes, shoes, jewellery and accessories, Kate Spade.

Hundreds of thousands of people have tweeted about New York designer Kate Spade – and nearly 70% were female.

About 57% of those users tweeting were aged between 18 and 24.

Young women shared memories of their “first Kate Spade” handbag, which for many came during high school.

‘The first time I felt fashionable was that purse’

Owning a Kate Spade handbag was a must-have, rite of passage for many teenage girls, according to hundreds of women on Twitter.

Over time, she distanced herself from her business.
In 1999, she and her husband, Andy Spade, sold 56% of the brand to Neiman Marcus for $33.6 million. Liz Claiborne acquired the company in 2007, and Spade left her namesake brand. The luxury fashion company Coach announced plans in May 2017 to buy Kate Spade for $2.4 billion

Housekeeping staff found Spade inside her Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan around 10:20 a.m. Tuesday, law enforcement officials told CBS News. They said she left a note at the scene but the contents of the note were not divulged. She had apparently hanged herself with a scarf attached to a door knob. Her husband and business partner Andy Spade was in the apartment at the time, police said at an afternoon news conference.

The NYPD’s chief of detectives, Dermot Shea, said that while investigators were still in the early stages of their inquiry, evidence including the state of the apartment and the presence of a note pointed to “a tragic suicide.”

It’s unclear how long Spade had been dead. The medical examiner will perform an autopsy.

“We are all devastated by today’s tragedy,” Spade’s family said in a statement through a spokesman. “We loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly. We would ask that our privacy be respected as we grieve during this very difficult time.”