NEW YORK — Law enforcement officials say New York fashion designer Kate Spade has been found dead in her apartment in an apparent suicide.
The officials say she was found hanging by housekeeping staff inside her Park Avenue apartment at about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday. They say she left a note at the scene. The officials were not authorized to divulge details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The officials didn't know what the note said.
The 55-year-old Spade created a line of sleek handbags in the early 1990s that created a smash. Her company, Kate Spade New York, has over 140 retail shops and outlet stores across the U.S. and more than 175 shops internationally.
A company representative did not immediately respond to phone and e-mail requests.
Kate Spade was an entrepreneurial and artistic force, and all of us know that already. But what we don't tend to is what's going on behind the scenes. There's no shame in reaching out if you need it. You're not alone, no matter how alone you may feel.
— Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) June 5, 2018
A few folks I follow have shared these in response to the Kate Spade news, and I will too: the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number is 1-800-273-8255 and the Crisis Text Line is 741741.
— Wesley (@WesleyLowery) June 5, 2018
She walked away from the company in 2007, a year after it was acquired from the Neiman Marcus Group for $125 million by the company then known as Liz Claiborne Inc. In 2017, Coach bought the brand for $2.4 billion.
Spade and her husband Andy started a new handbag company a few years ago, Frances Valentine. And she changed her name to Katherine Noel Frances Valentine Brosnahan Spade, she said in an NPR interview this year.
In addition to her husband, Spade is survived by a daughter, born in 2005.
