Kate Spade
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Kate Spade (born Katherine Noel Brosnahan in Kansas City, Missouri in 1962) is the co-founder and namesake of the designer brand Kate Spade New York.
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[edit] Education
Spade majored in journalism at Arizona State University, during which time she also worked in a motorcycle bar, and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
[edit] Mademoiselle Magazine
After college in 1986, Spade worked in the accessories department of Mademoiselle in Manhattan, where she was credited in the magazine's masthead as Katy Brosnahan. While at Mademoiselle she met Bradley Carvette who worked in the art department and would become a longtime boyfriend. Together, they were featured in the magazine as part of a photo story on couples and love.
She left Mademoiselle in 1991, with the title of senior fashion editor/head of accessories. While working for Mademoiselle she noticed that the market lacked stylish and sensible handbags, so decided to create her own. With this in mind, Kate began researching different styles, fabrics, production costs, and created a line of handbags with classic shapes, colors, and fabrics.
[edit] Andy Spade
Although they never dated at college where they were "just friends," she met her husband, a native of Scottsdale, Arizona, Andy Spade while at ASU, working side-by-side as salespersons in a men's clothing store. It wasn't until many years later when they met up again in New York City that they started dating.
Together, Andy and Kate launched their New York-based design company "kate spade handbags" in January 1993, selling mainly handbags. Today Kate Spade sells a variety of items including, stationery, personal organizers, address books, shoes, beauty products, perfume, raincoats, pajamas, eyewear, and in 2004, launched "kate spade at home." The home collection includes bedding, bath items, china, various items for the home and wallpaper.
Jack Spade, a fictional name, is the men's brand of Kate Spade. Its founder and principal designer was Andy. In recent years, Kate Spade has been featuring designs and special editions by guest designers and is no longer the sole artistic vision of the husband and wife team.
[edit] Shops
In 1996, Kate Spade opened its first shop in New York City's SoHo. In 1998, Kate Spade opened its doors in Boston, in 2000, Chicago, San Francisco, Greenwich, Connecticut, and Manhasset, Long Island. In the spring of 2003, one more store opened in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. From there, a wave of boutiques opened in 2004, in Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte, Scottsdale, Dallas, and Boca Raton. The last boutiques that were opened were in Las Vegas, Palo Alto, and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. In 2004, Kate went international and opened a store in Aoyama, Japan.
Kate currently has 25 Kate Spade boutiques around the world: 16 in the United States, 5 in Japan, 3 in Hong Kong, and 1 in the Philippines.In 2004, Women's Wear Daily reported that Kate Spade had sales of $125 million. It was predicted that in fiscal 2005, sales could reach and surpass $200 million. The Neiman Marcus Group Inc., which formerly owned Kate Spade, sold it to Liz Claiborne for $125 million in November 2006.
[edit] Awards
Kate Spade has won numerous awards throughout her career. In 1996 the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Kate "America's New Fashion Talent in Accessories" for her classic designs. In 1998, CFDA once again honored her for "Best Accessory Designer of the Year". Kate Spade's home collection won her three design awards in 2004, including, House Beautiful's "Giants of Design Award for Tastemaker", Bon Appetit's "American Food and Entertaining Award for Designer of the Year", and Elle Decor's "Elle Decor International Design Award for Bedding".
[edit] Criticism
Kate Spade handbags have become very fashionable and are highly-desired items, which make them seemingly common and have become a mall-girl staple and are no longer seen as exclusive or rare. In an article on fake handbag sales on Canal Street in New York City's Chinatown, the New York Times famously criticized the very simple construction and boxy shape of the women's handbags, which they pointed out makes them very easy for counterfeiters to copy.
[edit] Popular Culture
Kate Spade handbags have been featured frequently in the sitcom Just Shoot Me as the favored purse of the former fashion model character Nina Van Horn, played by Wendie Malick. This is due to the fact that David Spade, one of the stars of the show, is the younger brother of Andy Spade.
