Goodbye Kate

I am writing this post feeling shocked but mostly really saddened by the death of Kate Spade, the New York designer who took her own life yesterday. Some deaths we hear about affect us more than others and of course I'm not talking about the loss of those close to us which can be absolutely devastating. I'm referring to those people that we feel we know in some way, a celebrity or public figure who has somehow become important to us and we feel connected to, someone who has touched our lives. I feel that way about Kate Spade.

I met my husband in 1994. We were married in November 95. He accepted a job in America shortly after our wedding and in April 1996, I found myself getting on a plane to start a new life with him overseas.  We began our married life together living in Greenwich, Connecticut but very quickly found the lure of New York City too great and in March 1997, we got the keys for our apartment on Greenwich Street down in Greenwich Village. What a blast. Life was vibrant and fun and fast and to this day I still consider New York City to be the capital of the world. I loved it there.

A Saturday afternoon treat for the two of us would be a stroll around SoHo, popping into galleries looking at the bizarre and fabulous, hitting high-end stores with no intention of spending and exploring the smaller boutique stores in the quieter streets. And that is where we came across Kate's store. I'm assuming this was her first New York boutique. It had a relatively small selection of carefully curated items but I was in love. 

I loved the simple elegance of some of her bags and the fun and colour of others. If you wanted something that looked expensive and complimented your black sheath evening dress, she had it but it was still playful and not prissy. You wanted something extravagant, colourful and bright that you could take to Florida on holiday, she had that too, you needed a classic black leather bag for work, big enough to hold all your papers, she had that too. You wanted something that made a statement, then you could pick up one of her novelty bags. I still hold a deep desire for the typewriter bag and the Great Gatsby clutch bag – be still my beating heart. Some were practical, some were fun, some were cute, many were beautiful and many had a quirkiness that other designers simply couldn't capture. It was this quirkiness that drew me to her. It seemed to say I understand you.

She was always my go-to girl if I wanted a handbag. It was the same for my husband if he wanted to buy me a gift he knew I'd adore. I am fortunate to have a lovely collection of handbags; many of which I've had for over 20 years. I guess they'd be considered a vintage collection now. Amongst those, the brand that stands out and which I have most of is Kate Spade. A gorgeous yet simple black velvet evening bag only big enough to hold a small purse and a lipstick took me to the Plaza Hotel for a black tie event where I saw amongst others Pavarotti, Aretha Franklin, and Sting. I was just a shy girl from a small town in England, but with Kate on my arm, I had an added confidence. 

One of my absolute favourite handbags due mostly in part to the sentimental value of it to me personally is a small square bag that she produced as a celebration of her 10 years in business.  If you look you can see the number 10 incorporated into the pattern of the bag and under her Kate Spade familiar label on the outside of the bag, this time it said the words "Decade". As she started just as we moved to New York, production of this bag coincided with our 10th wedding anniversary. How appropriate a gift - so special to me because of the significance of the 10 years. She would never have known what that bag meant to me. For her, it was a celebration of her life and business. For me, it was a celebration of 10 years of marriage to a man I loved then and continue to now as we approach 23 years together. 

She veered into other objects too most of which were also desirable to me. One, in particular, was her stationery collection. I don't know for sure, but I am tempted to believe that she would have been one of the first designers to use quotes on her notebooks, something that has become highly popular now. I still have several of them - the fronts illustrated with quirky quotes and cute pictures in pretty pastels. I was bought many sets of her notelets and thank you cards. Although I was grateful for these as gifts, I actually would have preferred in many ways to have received one of them in the mail, thinking how gorgeous it must be to have one arrive. The notelet was encapsulated within a beautiful white envelope, often with a vibrantly coloured inner layer that would only be revealed when you opened the card.

So perhaps you can see why I feel sad. I never knew Kate in person and she never knew me or how much joy her designs and products brought me. She was part of my New York life, someone I felt an alignment with.  She arrived around the same time we did, although for very different reasons. We had a connection and now she is gone and even sadder that she felt it necessary to take her own life, something impossible to understand when you stand on the outside looking in.

All I can say is thank you Kate Spade for making me feel different, yet part of something, for making me embrace whimsy and playful as well as helping me feel special but mostly for being part of the glorious New York adventure.