Fashion designer Kate Spade found dead at 55

FILE PHOTO: Kate Spade arrives at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards in New York on June 2, 2003, at the New York Public Library. Upon arrival officers discovered a 55 year old female unconscious and unresponsive.

It was 1991, and Kate Brosnahan, then a senior accessories editor for Mademoiselle magazine, set out to reinvent the handbag.

Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead from an apparent suicide in her Manhattan home Tuesday. Celebrity Net Worth contradicts this number, pinning her net worth at $200 million, but regardless, the numbers make it clear that Spade was a savvy businesswoman who knew her stuff. “For our customers, fashion is in the right place in their life”.

In the same 1999 interview with the Boston Globe, Spade, who had five siblings, told the newspaper her father owned a construction company and her mother was a housewife.

Although she hasn’t been involved in the company that sells Kate Spade branded bags for many years, the designer’s death could have an impact via the so-called halo effect in shoppers’ minds, said Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Edward Jones.

According to officials, a housekeeper found Spade hanging in her bedroom in her Park Avenue apartment.

Spade leaves behind one daughter, Frances Beatrix. Her impact on the fashion and accessories world will forever be felt by those who knew her and those who were fans of her work.

The New York fashion designer wanted to separate her personal life from the brand, Kate Spade, which she created with her husband in 1993.

Over the past two and a half decades, Spade’s line evolved to include several products ranging from shoes and accessories to stationary.

Kate and Andy sold their company in full in 2007 in order to raise their daughter. It is believed that the two made the majority of their money at this time. A spokesperson confirmed to Gothamist that a 55-year-old woman was found dead in the apartment; the medical examiner will determine the cause of death. Eventually, the company began to produce other items besides handbags, including housewares, fragrances, eyeglasses, and more. Kate was best known for co-founding Kate Spade Handbags in the nineties and for designing block colour, feminine bags.

“Under the terms of the deal…”