Friend’s handbag line to honour memory of Kate Spade
Kate Spade’s best friend and business partner is helping to keep the late fashion designer’s legacy alive by launching a new bag named in her honour.
Spade, who shot to fame in the mid-1990s with her eponymous line of handbags, had spent the last two years of her life focusing on her accessories label Frances Valentine, which she established with her husband, Andy Spade, and close friend Elyce Arons in 2016, 10 years after selling off her namesake firm.
Following Spade’s death in June, Arons revealed the 55-year-old had left behind four seasons’ worth of creations for the new brand, but its latest addition is one made as a tribute to its co-founder — simply named the Kate.
The $US195 boxy nylon handbag, released earlier this month, is a nod to the classic design which launched Kate Spade New York back in 1993, when it was known as the Sam, and is available in red, green, navy and black.
“Katy created the exact bag that she wanted to carry herself,” Arons told Glamour. “She loved simple, clean lines, square shapes, and functionality. The bag felt modern and essential when Katy first designed it — and it still does. It’s stylish, smart, and colourful, just like Katy.
“We wanted to honour Katy and celebrate her creative spirit from the beginning ... Frances Valentine is where Kate Valentine Spade’s designs and ideas live, and we wanted to recognize one of her iconic creations and show it alongside the new work of Kate Valentine Spade.”
A portion of proceeds from each sale will also benefit a charity close to Kate’s heart — children’s organization the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Meanwhile, Arons has vowed to keep building on the success of their Frances Valentine company, named after the Spades’ only child, to continue the late designer’s original mission: to make other women happy.
“We’ve had a lot of people write in and talk about how she had changed their lives and, ‘Please keep going and keep her designs alive,’ and that’s what we’re gonna do. We miss her every day,” the brand chief explained to breakfast show Good Morning America.”