Kate Spade, Redux 

        Wow, that was even more fun than the first time. The first time I interviewed Kate Spade (for Fortune Small Business, now a shadow of its former self) I described her as looking like Audrey Hepburn’s best friend—fresh-faced, super-stylish and charming. Yesterday, as I sat in the lobby of her Manhattan apartment, completely absorbed in my Kindle (Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson), Kate paused after she’d walked past me (cued by the doorman) and said, “Ellyn?” 

      She was dressed in her workout clothes, running tights under shorts and topped with a t-shirt and comfortably worn pullover. All my fears about not owning a single Kate Spade handbag, pair of shoes or sunglasses evaporated. She is utterly unaffected and has the knack of smiling as she speaks, giving me the impression that she’s the sunniest person I’ve been around in days.

     She and her husband, Andy, sold the company last year and now she is a stay-at-home mom happily making muffins and going to play dates with daughter Frances. I don’t want to steal my books’s thunder and reveal what her letter is going to be about. But I will offer that I think her message will be fascinating to any woman in a career, especially entrepreneurs and creative women.

     Also, her apartment was so wonderful. Gorgeous, of course, but not one of those too-perfect hands-off places. The patrician bones of the apartment (high-ceilings, huge rooms) were all there, but the feel of her space was of a large, generous, slightly bohemian home. Art of all kinds filled the walls in the long foyer and living room. Not curated art. Not art that cleverly played well with the wall and furniture colors. Or lined up like soldiers guarding good taste. Kate and Andy clearly had fallen in love with all these pieces and just kept putting them up wherever they had space. You got the feeling that a lively conversation was happening in that room even when no one was there.

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espragins   |Administrator |2009-02-13 10:54:23 Yup--I think we have not seen the last of Kate Spade in the public sense. I wouldn't be surprised if she did something in the art world--like paint or create her own art. Her daughter is only 3 though, so it may be a while.

robincarey   |173.70.126.xxx |2009-02-13 07:51:58 It will be interesting to see what she does once the kids are grown.

cemdigital   |71.125.130.xxx |2008-11-12 10:08:01 The timing of the sale of Kate Spade's company was brilliant! Your description of her fun art-filled home and her disposition and her joy at being a mom seem to mean that she didn't get tied up in being a fashion celeb, and that's refreshing. I can't wait to read her letter!

espragins   |Administrator |2008-11-16 18:15:40 Yes, she was really like the girl next door. I'm sure she and I would be best friends...if I lived on Park Avenue. I don't think I said that I gave her one of Mindy Lam's brooches, since she is a brooch fan and I think she really liked it. She said she was going to wear it that night. So cool. I wish I had had a chance to meet the napping Frances.

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