Kate Spade handbags are a symbol of accomplishment and independence, according to women on Twitter
Kate Spade's handbag was more than just a purse for women. Many recall the eponymous label as a statement of independence and accomplishment. That is why when Kate Spade was found dead in her Manhattan Apartment on June 5 in an apparent suicide, many women took to social media to recall their first Kate Spade bag.
Author Melanie Benjamin said that she had made a pact with herself that, if her book 'The Aviator's Wife' hit the New York Times Best Seller list, she'd buy herself her first Kate Spade bag. "That was what I told myself — I make the list, I buy my first Kate Spade," she told CNN. And she did. She still has the bag and the dust cover it came with it, she adds.
Many other women tweeted out the stories behind their first Kate Spade. In the '90s when black leggings were raging in trend, it was Kate Spade's collection that rendered color to the era. It mostly struck fashionable girls transitioning to adulthood. For people like Jonquilyn Hill and Elizabeth Barr, Kate Spade bag was one of their first big purchases as professionals.
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former US President Bill Clinton and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, also remembered her first Kate Spade bag.
For Taylor Jay, her first Kate Spade was an accomplishment and her first splurge into a world of luxury two years ago.
"It felt like an accomplishment for me because for the first time, I felt myself stepping into a world of luxury," Jay said. "Kate Spade's designs were otherworldly, crafted eloquently with genuine material. I appreciated it being luxury that was affordable but still not too easy to get without saving. I feel like a real woman carrying her bag on my arm."
When Jay secured a new job last fall, she celebrated by buying another Kate Spade bag.
Tawny Pham got her first Kate Spade bag when she turned 20-years-old. She rightly pointed out that the label marked the passage into adulthood. "I felt really mature but also innocent [because] Kate Spade's [designs] are ALWAYS so classy and cute," Pham said.
For actor Gloria Mann, Kate Spade bag was significant to her family tradition. She shared how she passed down her first Kate Spade bag to her daughter after her high school graduation.
Kate Spade bags inspired women to keep working hard and stay stylish at the same time.
Kate Spade & Co. also donated handbags to young women so they would feel confident and empowered during their internships, says Soledad O'Brien.