Kate Spade, the famous fashion icon and businesswomen, was found dead in her Manhattan apartment by her housekeeper. She apparently hanged herself with a scarf attached to a door knob. It was also found that she left a note at the scene but the content of the note was undermined. Her husband and business partner, Andy Spade, was in the apartment at the time for an afternoon conference.

The designer, 55, started Kate Spade New York in 1933 and opened her first shop in the city three years later. Best known for her colorful handbags, she has more than 140 retail shops and outlet stores across the United States. The bags were popular with fashion, but with more accessible price tags than those of other high-end handbags. Overtime, however, she distanced herself from her business once her daughter was born. She stated that “it was a perfect time to leave, I wanted to spend time with my daughter.”

Buying Kate Spade handbag was a coming of age ritual for a generation of American women. These purses became a status symbol and token of adulthood. She embodied her own aesthetic to each design that made the shoppers smile.

In 2007, Spade and her husband left the business after selling it to Liz Claiborne. By then, the handbag line had expanded into all different types of apparel; selling clothing and jewelry. The brand then begun making begging, fragrance, shoes, stationary, eyewear, baby items and bedding. She had no regrets about selling Kate Spade New York and went there to purchase her daughter a gift.

Reminiscing, everyone will remember their first Kate Spade. Having left a handful of celebrities and fans of her designs heartbroken, the brand became one of those accessible but quirky fun labels that everyone had to have.