Built a fashion empire around handbags

NEW YORK — Designer

Kate Spade, who created an accessories empire and whose handbags became a status symbol and a token of sophisticated adulthood for American women, was found dead Tuesday.

Police said that Spade, 55, was discovered unresponsive at a Park Avenue apartment where she had hanged herself in her bedroom.

“We are all devastated by today’s tragedy,” the Spade family said in a statement. “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.”

Her husband and business partner Andy Spade was in the apartment at the time. The couple’s 13-year-old daughter was at school.

A Police Department official 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,” the Associated Press reported.

As one of the first of a powerful wave of female American contemporary designers in the 1990s, Spade built a brand on the appeal of clothes and accessories that made women smile. Her cheerful lack of restraint and bright prints struck a chord with consumers.

Katherine Noel Brosnahan was born in Kansas City, Mo., in December 1962. While a student at Arizona State University, she met her husband-to-be, Andy Spade, the brother of actor and comedian David Spade.

After college, the couple moved to New York where Spade became an assistant fashion editor at Mademoiselle magazine. Within five years she was the accessories editor.

In 1993, she founded Kate Spade with Andy and a friend, Elyce Arons.