Kate Spade?

[CoyoteChris]

The Kate Spade story hits home personnally on many levels and like thousands and thousands in the US alone, it is a sad story and all too common.

But there is one facet that is very puzzeling. The National Network news said specifically that "Kate Spade", probably meaning the brand, is a household word. And acted like we all should know it.

I dont know anyone who has ever heard of it. No even my wife (who has never owned or used a hand bag) . Perhaps I am atypical but outside of skating events I am usually surrounded by conservative men and women or female/male environmentalist types.

Is "Kate Spade" an eastern US big city thing???? I would assume my highly educated intelligent friends like Mrs. P and Doris know the name....

Chris not necessarily a slave to fashion. Welcome to Spokane. Please turn back your clocks 20 years.

 

[NoNameFace]

The Kate Spade story hits home personnally on many levels and like thousands and thousands in the US alone, it is a sad story and all too common.

But there is one facet that is very puzzeling. The National Network news said specifically that "Kate Spade", probably meaning the brand, is a household word. And acted like we all should know it.

I dont know anyone who has ever heard of it. No even my wife (who has never owned or used a hand bag) . Perhaps I am atypical but outside of skating events I am usually surrounded by conservative men and women or female/male environmentalist types.

Is "Kate Spade" an eastern US big city thing???? I would assume my highly educated intelligent friends like Mrs. P and Doris know the name....

Chris not necessarily a slave to fashion. Welcome to Spokane. Please turn back your clocks 20 years.

I can only speak on behalf small townie from Poland who happens to be interested a bit in fashion (mainly designers' biographies, history of fashion/fashion brands, economic/social/psychological aspects of fashion etc.) - yes, the 'brand' and name behind it ring the bell for me. and I was pretty shocked to see the sad news like two days ago (?). Saying that, I am not fully aware of the story of her life - would You mind to link some articles worth reading about this? Was it 'common knowledge' about her story/her life/circumstances surrounding everything that happened? Thank You in advance.

Last sentence is also true for me - I am interested in subject, Ilike to observe people, what they are wearing as a part of self-expression, but I am no slave to trends. I pride myself to be a serial thrifter, cherishing all treasures I find, totally in love with vintage fashion (so these 20 years are accurate )

 

[merrywidow]

I'd heard the name before but if you'd asked me before her suicide who she was, I couldn't have told you.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I can only speak on behalf small townie from Poland who happens to be interested a bit in fashion (mainly designers' biographies, history of fashion/fashion brands, economic/social/psychological aspects of fashion etc.) - yes, the 'brand' and name behind it ring the bell for me. and I was pretty shocked to see the sad news like two days ago (?). Saying that, I am not fully aware of the story of her life - would You mind to link some articles worth reading about this? Was it 'common knowledge' about her story/her life/circumstances surrounding everything that happened? Thank You in advance.

Last sentence is also true for me - I am interested in subject, Ilike to observe people, what they are wearing as a part of self-expression, but I am no slave to trends. I pride myself to be a serial thrifter, cherishing all treasures I find, totally in love with vintage fashion (so these 20 years are accurate )

Whenever I want to know something that is in the news, I put in "Google News" in the search bar, and then when I get there,I put in my topic in the google news search bar. Here are lots of stories and you can pretty well trust the ones from main stream media like NBC, Washington Post, etc.
https://news.google.com/topics/CAAq...YTJSNEVnSmxiaWdBUAE?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

I dont think anyone outside of the industry knew much unless they cared to dig. She was separated from her husband although she saw him frequently. He is the oposite personality so being around an anxious, depressed person is very hard for him, I can tell you from first hand experience. Did he want a divorce? Unknown, but the pain of her medical condition obviously got too great for her to bear....even though she was under treatment, medical science is still in the dark ages when it comes to understanding her condition and treating it.... If you have never been so anxious or depressed to the point of complete dispare where you are willing to do anything to end the pain, you can not know how hard it is to face.

 

[Seren]

I did not know her personal story. It was heartbreaking.

That said- I am familiar with the brand and have a wallet from them I bought after college. I am 30 years old and enjoy fashion and style and most of my friends my age and older are also familiar with it. It is a brand around the price point of brands like Coach and is more accessible to most women than brands like Chanel, Gucci, etc.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I did not know her personal story. It was heartbreaking.

That said- I am familiar with the brand and have a wallet from them I bought after college. I am 30 years old and enjoy fashion and style and most of my friends my age and older are also familiar with it. It is a brand around the price point of brands like Coach and is more accessible to most women than brands like Chanel, Gucci, etc.

Thanks! I expect that I am kind of a dinasour of a certain age demographic. I dont watch TV and I dont pay attention to much marketing...and as for clothes, features and price mean more to me than a name. I have been told by my friends who had kids that many of the kids who now would be about 30 were/are very name concious and wouldnt think about wearing the inexpensive jeans I do when they were in school. I was shocked when I heard this about 10-15 years ago as my generation wasnt much into fashion as far as name recongnition, as a whole. But I am sure there were those babyboomers who were into named clothing items

OTOH, there is a Japanese Rifle manufacturing company named Miroku that makes quality copies of antique Winchesters for a very fair price, and I can name other instances of brands whose products I respect and use.

Chris who never owned a Cadallac or Rolex.

 

[Sabrina]

I heard of Kate Spade, but I can't say her hand bags really appealed to me. I am quite sad as depression and suicide is so regrettable. But depression may be treated, but death is forever. It's sad that she was alone at that time. Had she been with her daughter or husband at that time, maybe she were alive today.

 

[Ducky]

There was a bit of a kurfluffle on twitter (go figure) about how the national media treated Kate Spade, the brand, as an everyday touchstone for women in their 20's and 30's as being classist since the majority of American women aren't able to afford her bags let alone consider owning one a 'token of adulthood'.

But yes, "Kate Spade" is totally a coastal US city thing -- which is also where most of the women who produce and report on the news happen to live. I think that Kate Spade's death hit many hard because the brand is relentlessly cheerful: bright colors and patterns and often whimsical designs. Her depression and suicide seemed incongruous with it. And it's funny because I never thought I would have connected with a brand or a designer because I bought something of theirs but in some weird way carrying her bags made me feel as if I had something in common with her. A bit of her style and elegance and statement carried over and made me stylish as well. I don't think she ever realized how she had made the world just a little bit better, but she certainly made mine a bit better.

 

[Arriba627]

I had definitely heard of Kate Spade handbags but never focused on the brand, since it is just a little too pricey for me. Colors and styles are very nice.

 

[iorii]

I don't live in the US, I live in a tropical country somewhere in Asia. But here the Kate Spade bags are very popular between women in her 20s. To the point we can make a stereotypical category of women with this brand. My friend went to US and came back with a Kate Spade bag. It's definitely popular. They look nice and as Seren has said, more accessible. The designs appealed more to the younger women too.

 

[Tavi...]

All I can say is that Kate Spade bags are popular enough that counterfeit ones have been sold on eBay for years.