San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
KATE SPADE’S ‘INDELIBLE IMPRINT’
Fashion and lifestyle entrepreneur Kate Spade, 55, died unexpectedly June 5 in New York City. Friends and fans shared remembrances of Spade, and her husband and business partner, Andy Spade, who had spent time in the Bay Area over the years.
PR pro Allison Speer met Kate Spade in 2000, when Speer worked with the designer to open Spade’s eponymous boutique on Grant Avenue. Speer recalls feeling awed by Spade, already an accomplished career woman and fashion icon.
“I don’t think I’ve worked with a fashion label where its store so fully reflects the designer’s brand and personal style,” says Speer. “Her boutique felt like you were walking into her home.”
During Spade’s numerous visits to San Francisco (attending SFMOMA Modern Ball or Norman and Norah Stone’s summer Stonescape soirees in Napa), Speer also became a fan of Spade’s warm, sparkly personality.
“She was so dynamic and chic, with an amazing sense of humor. When she walked into a room, Kate always looked effortlessly flawless, with her hair pulled back in her signature French twist,” notes Speer.
“It’s just so sad Kate’s bright light is no more.” Katie Grimshaw Jagla, 28, an account executive in Portland, Ore., remembers visiting San Francisco about a decade ago and passing the Kate Spade store in Union Square. She scraped her allowance together, and begged her dad to lend her money for what she describes as her “first prized fashion possession”: the Kate Spade Black Satin Sam Box bag.
“There was something about her being the New York woman who seemed to have it all that her bag gave me a sliver of,” Jagla said. “Kate Spade played a role ushering us into womanhood; it was that pivotal gap between what a young person’s style is, and what a young woman’s style is.”
Author Alexis Traina shared family roots
with Spade. One of her cousins was a cousin of Spade’s, and Traina has family in Kansas City, Mo., from where Spade hailed. Years later, Spade and her husband began summering in Napa.
At the family’s former winery, Swanson Vineyards, Traina and Andy Spade collaborated on several design projects.
“Kate and Andy spent every July and August in Napa and personified my ‘Summer Folk’ chapter,” says Traina, who included them in her book “From Napa With Love.”
“They were always easy to spot cruising Highway 29, wearing their straw hats, in a vintage BMW, or waiting in line at the hamburger joint, ice cream parlor or the county fair. They inhabit the Napa Valley lifestyle with a singular joie de vivre.”
Traina counts herself as one of an entire generation that was charmed and inspired by Spade, as both designer and friend.
“Kate lived celebrating life as she saw it: with exuberance, style, humor and color,” says Traina. “Kate came into this world to leave an indelible imprint — and she did.”
Natasha Mascarenhas is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: natashamascarenhas@sfchronicle.com