Kate Spade's Real Name: Katherine Brosnahan

Quick answer: The designer was known professionally as Kate Spade. The Associated Press says she was born Katherine Brosnahan and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. A Guardian obituary independently identifies her as Katherine Noel, born on Christmas Eve in Kansas City, Missouri, and later known as Katy Brosnahan. Both accounts record her death on June 5, 2018, at age 55.

Real name and early life

The Associated Press says Kate Spade was born Katherine Brosnahan and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. The Guardian independently says Katherine Noel was born on Christmas Eve in Kansas City, Missouri, and that at the time she began making bags she was known as Katy Brosnahan. The Guardian's closing line gives the birth date 24 December 1962. The AP report does not give a calendar birth date. The Guardian says she studied journalism at the University of Kansas, then Arizona State University, where she met Andy Spade, and later worked at Mademoiselle in New York, rising to senior fashion editor, specializing in accessories.

Career highlights

The Associated Press says she was working as an accessories editor at Mademoiselle when she launched her company with her husband, Andy, in their New York apartment in 1993, starting with six shapes of bags. The Guardian independently says she launched her first handbags at a 1993 trade show, that a Kate Spade shop opened in SoHo, Manhattan, in 1996, and that by 1999 Neiman Marcus had bought 56 percent of the firm. The AP says the company she founded and later sold, Kate Spade New York, had more than 140 retail shops and outlet stores across the United States and more than 175 shops internationally. The Guardian also names a later book, Contents (2000), and a later label, Frances Valentine.

Death

The Associated Press, in a June 5, 2018, report from New York, said she was found dead in her Park Avenue apartment that Tuesday, at age 55, and that police described the death as an apparent suicide. The Guardian, published the following day, independently said she had taken her own life at the age of 55, and its closing line gives the date 5 June 2018.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Kate Spade, Katherine Brosnahan, or Katherine Noel Brosnahan are looking for the same designer, including the later handbag work most often associated with her name.