Andy Spade and his daughter, Frances Beatrix, are remembering his wife and her mother, Kate Spade, nearly two months after the fashion designer died by suicide.
“She was born Christmas Eve, 1962. She loved the Midwest, the desert and the city,” Andy, 55, wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, July 31, alongside a photo of a small Christmas tree. “I was lucky enough to have dear friends let my daughter and [I] stay at their home through a difficult time.”
He continued, “This tree was standing alone beside the house so we ordered those multicolored, old fashioned lights from Amazon or Target and another dear personal friend gave me a really long extension cord and Bea and I cut a star out of the cardboard box the lights came on and wrapped it in Reynolds wrap (TM) like we do every Christmas.”
Kate was found dead at the age of 55 at her New York City apartment on June 5. She and Andy cofounded the iconic handbag company Kate Spade New York in 1993 and sold it more than a decade later. They launched a new brand, Frances Valentine, named after their now-13-year-old daughter, in 2016.
Multiple sources told Us Weekly in June that the businesswoman and her husband of 24 years had been experiencing marital issues and quietly separated before her suicide.
“For the past 10 months we had been living separately, but within a few blocks of each other,” Andy later confirmed in a statement to The New York Times. “Bea was living with both of us and we saw each other or spoke every day. We ate many meals together as a family and continued to vacation together as a family. Our daughter was our priority. We were not legally separated, and never even discussed divorce. We were best friends trying to work through our problems in the best way we knew how. … We loved each other very much and simply needed a break.”
Kate was laid to rest in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, on June 21. The service was open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
