I have Kate Spade to thank for a lot of my aesthetic—her brand of cheerful retro-preppy made it respectable and even chic to embrace elements that might have otherwise been classified as childish, like bright colors and polka dots. I hope in the current (very important) discussion of suicide prevention all the beauty that she contributed to the world is not overshadowed. I wanted to post here my favorite two quotes that I read in the last 2 days about her.

From Mindy Kaling: "I am heartbroken about the news of Kate Spade. I have worn her clothes many, many times. They were colorful, bold, cheerful, and encouraged women to find the twinkly person inside them. You couldn’t walk into her boutiques and not smile."

From Claire Vivier: "There was no one like Kate in the handbag industry. I looked up to her immensely. When she came on to the scene, she was so important because not only did she hit the nail on the head of what women were looking for at the moment, she did so by embodying the best of American style: preppy and chic with a high dose of cheekiness. It always felt that it was important to Kate Spade to not take ourselves too seriously — which in a way paved the way for me and many other fashion designers."