Kate Spade: Fashion designer who arrived in New York with $7 and built an empire on her must-have handbag

Kate Spade

New Yorker Spade, who police believe took her own life at the age of 55, began her career at Mademoiselle magazine, where she worked her way up from an entry-level to senior editor for accessories. Often disappointed at the selection and prices of handbags available for fashion photo sessions, she decided to start a business and design them herself.

The designer bags from Prada and Louis Vuitton were too precious, in every way, to suit Spade, who preferred a simple woven bag with no zippers or flaps.

“I said to myself, ‘Where’s a bag that I can afford, that’s simple, that’s not saying too much and that I won’t be embarrassed to pull out every season?’” she said in 1997.

With no training in design, she went to work in her apartment, using construction paper and Scotch tape to find the right dimensions. Her first handbag was made of burlap, the cheapest material she could find.

“I sat down with some tracing paper, and I knew immediately what the shape should be – a very simple square,” she said in 2003. “At the time no one was doing anything that clean. The shape gave me a real flexible canvas for applying all the ideas I had for a lot of colours, patterns, and fabrics.”

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