Fashion designer Kate Spade found dead, police say

Mr Spade said the designer was seeing a doctor on a regular basis and taking medication for depression and anxiety.

Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead in her home this morning after an apparent suicide. The former businesswoman reportedly left a note at the scene that was addressed to her 13-year-old daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade.

Kate and Andy, the brother of comedian David Spade, started the Kate Spade line of handbags in 1993 before marrying a year later.

“We loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly”, Kate’s family said in a statement to to the New York Daily News. “There was no indication and no warning that she would do this”, Andy Spade said. “It was a complete shock”.

The New York Police Department also confirmed Spade was discovered “unconscious” and “unresponsive” and that emergency medical services pronounced her deceased at 10:26 a.m. that day. “For example, I love a good shoe and a good bag, and I know that she was largely influenced by my grandmother, her mother, June”.

The 57-year-old then revealed that her sister’s tragic death “was not unexpected by me”.

He took to his social media accounts late on Tuesday to honour his relative, sharing a slightly blurry snap of the pair during an outdoor holiday photoshoot.

He acknowledged the couple had lived apart for the past few months but remained close as they both raised their daughter.

“Knowing Katy, this is how she would want to be remembered”, the post said. He said he had dinner with her a week before her death, and “she was still talking very much about the future and collaborating with Andy on projects for Frances Valentine”. Ms. Spade would often wear flashy hats or socks to dress up her uniform at St. Teresa’s Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school, according to one of her classmates. “They never really gave her much respect… the public loved her, but the critics didn’t, and it always hurt her”.

Spade sold her namesake brand in 2007 and it was bought past year by NY rival designer Coach in a deal worth $2.4bn (£1.8bn). “Buying a Kate Spade handbag was a coming-of-age ritual for a generation of American women”, The New York Times wrote.

Kate Spade left behind a note telling her daughter it wasn’t her fault and to seek answers from her father, The Baltimore Sun reported, citing sources.

Spade’s handbags were a must-have, and she ranked among the NY designers to cement the minimalist look. “Please!'”, Saffo said. “I know she perhaps had a plan, but she insisted she did not”.

Spade, born Katherine Noel Brosnahan, was found unconscious by her housekeeper, the NYPD said.