Courtesy Elyce Arons
One year afterKate Spade’s death, the designer’s best friend and business partner Elyce Arons reflects on their enduring relationship and how she honors Spade daily through the brand they built together in 2016,Frances Valentine.
Katy and I had been best friends since our freshman year as journalism students at the University Of Kansas. We stayed up late those first nights telling each other all of the things we had never told a soul: the tragic death of my older sister, the pain Katy had gone through when her parents divorced. We decided that we were going to start a business together, although we had no idea what form that idea would ultimately take. We bonded over our love of practical jokes and music. No one could make me laugh like Katy.
A few years after moving to the city, Katy married her college sweetheart Andy Spade — a rising star in the advertising business at the time. Andy really provided the encouragement for Katy to start the business. That was when she became Kate Spade, merging both of their names, although she would always be Katy to me. The three of us and our other partner, Pamela Bell, would constantly shift between being silly and pranking each other, and being super serious. We were young and full of hope and energy, anything was possible. Katy’s eye for color and style, Pamela’s business acumen, Andy’s marvelous ability to tell our story. Though we had difficult moments, I’ll never forget the joy of our team working together in those early years.
Business partners Pamela Bell, Kate Spade and Elyce Arons pose in front of the iconic Kate Spade nylon bags at the designers New York City showroom in the mid ’90s.Courtesy Elyce Arons
From the start, Katy’s simple square nylon bags caught on with the important buyers and editors. There was nothing like them and they were priced correctly. We worked out of Katy and Andy’s industrial live/work loft in Tribeca. Orders would rattle in from Barney’s and Saks Fifth Avenue on an old fax machine that Pamela got used from a friend. It was such an exciting time. While much of fashion was grunge inspired in those years, Katy’s ideas were fresh, not trendy or cool. Her style was really timeless. Classics were her jumping off point, and we made the bags and shoes we wanted to wear. She would mix pieces of costume jewelry, always with her up-hairdo and a bright, colorful, quirky outfit. Always different, always original. It was amazing to watch that sense of style which came so naturally to her develop and mature.
Kate Spade in her office.Courtesy Frances Valentine
It’s difficult to talk about a loved one who’s taken their life, and hard not to be angry with my friend who has left me so heartbroken. I am constantly thinking of her family and think of her everyday. I hope that anyone reading this who needs help will know that loved ones are there for them, I pray that they will seek that help. Most of all, I hope that people will remember Katy, the best friend that anyone could ever dream of having — the funny, intelligent, sweet, sophisticated, whimsical, gracious woman I knew.
Frances Valentine Sag Harbor store.Courtesy Frances Valentine
Elyce Arons and friend outside Frances Valentine store.Courtesy Frances Valentine
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “home” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
source: people.com
