Kate Spade is the second high-profile fashion designer to commit suicide in New York following the death of L'Wren Scott four years ago. The 55-year-old's death on Tuesday at her luxurious Manhattan apartment bears a tragic and haunting similarity to L'Wren's 2014 suicide. Spade, a mother-of-one, was found hanged with a scarf in the bedroom of her Park Avenue apartment not long after 10am. Meanwhile, Scott was also found hanged with a scarf in her Chelsea home back in March 2014. Kate Spade (left) is the second high-profile fashion designer to commit suicide in New York following the death of L'Wren Scott (right) four years ago Scott, who was the longtime girlfriend of Mick Jagger, was 49 when she died. But unlike her fellow designer, Scott did not leave a suicide note. Scott, who designed clothes worn by the likes of Madonna, had suffered depression prior to her death. She was found by her assistant. Spade's death is still under investigation but police did confirm that the designer, known for her sleek handbags, had left a suicide note. Her husband and business partner Andy Spade was in the apartment at the time. It is not clear how long Spade had been dead but the medical examiner will perform an autopsy. The couple's 13-year-old daughter was at school at the time. Law enforcement officials said Spade's note contained a message to the teenage girl telling her it was not her fault. Spade was found hanged with a scarf in the bedroom of her Park Avenue apartment not long after 10am. Her husband and business partner Andy Spade was in the apartment at the time Spade's death is still under investigation but police did confirm that the designer, known for her sleek handbags, had left a suicide note. Her body was taken from the apartment Tuesday 'We are all devastated by today's tragedy,' her family said in a statement through a spokesman. 'We loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly. We would ask that our privacy be respected as we grieve during this very difficult time.' Kate rose to fame with the namesake fashion line she started in 1993 with her husband before they sold the company in 2007 so she could focus on raising their daughter Frances. She walked away from the company a year after it was acquired from the Neiman Marcus Group for $125 million by the company then known as Liz Claiborne Inc. Coach, now known as Tapestry, bought the Kate Spade brand last year for $2.4 billion, seeking to broaden its appeal. Meanwhile, Spade and her husband - brother of comedian David Spade - started a new handbag company a few years ago, Frances Valentine. She changed her name to Katherine Noel Frances Valentine Brosnahan Spade. If you or anyone you know needs to talk, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) Scott, who was the longtime girlfriend of Mick Jagger, was 49 when she died Scott was also found hanged with a scarf in her Chelsea home (pictured above) back in March 2014 For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local branch. See www.samaritans.org for details. LIFELINE: 13 11 14. Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467<doc-sep>Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Handbag maven Kate Spade’s suicide, which shocked the fashion world on Tuesday, is eerily similar to the 2014 death of fashion designer L’Wren Scott. Spade, 55, was found by a housekeeper hanging from a scarf on a doorknob inside her Upper East Side home around 11 a.m. Tuesday, police sources said. Scott’s lifeless body was found by her assistant in 2014, hanging from the neck by a scarf attached to a door in her Manhattan home. “Weird this is the same way L’wren Scott killed herself,” mused a police source. “Wonder if it was intentionally done that way.” Spade left a note that may shed some light on her death — unlike Scott, whose note-less suicide left people to speculate whether she killed herself over her business or a reported split with beau Mick Jagger. Additional reporting by Max Jaeger<doc-sep>LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 05: Actor Tim Conway arrives at the Paley Center for Media and TV Land salute of "The Bob Newhart Show" at the Paley Center for Media on September 5, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images) Niki Lauda celebrates after the Formula One Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone on July 16, 2017 in Northampton, England. Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr just before his retirement in 1972. GULFPORT, MS - JUNE 22: U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) looks on during a campaign rally at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport on June 22, 2014 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Tea Party-backed Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Chris McDaniel, a Mississippi state senator, is locked in a tight runoff race with incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) who failed to win the nomination in the primary election. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, followed by her brother, Tony Rodham, stop at Casa Bella Italian Restaurant in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Friday evening April 22, 2016. Hillary Clinton's father was born in Scranton, and she has family in the area. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 18: Denise Nickerson who played Violet Beauregarde in the original film attends the 40th Anniversary of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory at Jacques Torres Chocolates on October 18, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images) English rock group the Baker Gurvitz Army in a studio, August 1974. Left to right: Paul Gurvitz, Ginger Baker and Adrian Gurvitz. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images) SANTA MONICA, CA - JUNE 16: James Shaw Jr. accepts award from Actor Chadwick Boseman onstage at the 2018 MTV Movie And TV Awards at Barker Hangar on June 16, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) title: Chadwick Boseman's Howard University 2018 Commencement Speech duration: 00:34:41 site: Youtube author: null published: Mon May 14 2018 10:29:12 GMT-0400 (EDT) intervention: yes description: Howard University alumnus Chadwick Boseman provides words of inspiration to the Class of 2018 during Howard University's 150th Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 12 in Washington, D.C. In this Feb. 14, 2018 photo, actor Chadwick Boseman poses for a portrait in New York to promote his film, "Black Panther." Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer. His representative says Boseman died Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 in Los Angeles after a four-year battle with colon cancer. He was 43. (CNN) — Kate Spade’s suicide is the latest in a tragic and disturbing recurrence of high-profile fashion designers who have hanged themselves. Since 2010, two other celebrity designers have killed themselves in a similar way: Alexander McQueen in 2010 and L’Wren Scott in 2014. Alexander McQueen 2010 NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images Alexander McQueen with close friends Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. Alexander McQueen hanged himself in the wardrobe of his London apartment and left a suicide note in February 2010. Officials later ruled the cause of the 40-year-old fashion designer’s death as asphyxia and hanging. Officials didn’t disclose what the note said. McQueen, who had dressed stars from Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman to Rihanna and Sandra Bullock, killed himself nine days after the death of his mother. He expressed his devastation at her death on his Twitter account days before he died. McQueen, whose real name was Lee Alexander McQueen, was born the son of a taxi driver in London’s East End. He trained in London’s Savile Row at a company that made suits for Prince Charles, and earned a reputation for controversy that earned him the titles “enfant terrible” and “the hooligan of English fashion.” One anecdote that helped cement his bad-boy image was that he had once embroidered a suit for the Prince of Wales with a profanity sewn into the lining. British Vogue Editor Alexandra Shulman called him a “modern-day genius.” “His brilliant imagination knew no bounds,” she said after his death. L’Wren Scott 2014 Getty Images for Banana Republic L’Wren Scott was found dead in her New York apartment in March 2014, hanging from a door knob with a scarf around her neck. She was 49 when she died and officials ruled the death a suicide. The lanky former model designed clothes worn by a number of celebrities, including Madonna. She had been singer Mick Jagger’s companion for more than a decade, and created many of Jagger’s looks for the Rolling Stones’$2 50th anniversary tour. Scott was born Laura “Luann” Bambrough and raised in Utah. The statuesque beauty – she was 6-foot-4 – was first spotted by photographer Bruce Weber at a Calvin Klein hosiery shoot, according to Vogue. After modeling for several years, she became a stylist and eventually designed costumes for films such as the 1996 remake of “Diabolique” and 2000’s “Mercy.” She also received a credit on 2007’s “Ocean’s Thirteen” as actress Ellen Barkin’s consultant. Kate Spade 2018 Kate Spade was found by her housekeeper on Tuesday, hanged by a scarf she had allegedly tied to a doorknob, according to a New York Police Department source. A suicide note was found, a second NYPD source said. Asking for help The suicide rate in the United States has seen sharp increases in recent years. Studies have shown that the risk of suicide declines sharply when people call the national suicide hotline: 1-800-273-TALK. There is also a crisis text line. For crisis support in Spanish, call 1-888-628-9454. The lines are staffed by a mix of paid professionals and unpaid volunteers trained in crisis and suicide intervention. The confidential environment, the 24-hour accessibility, a caller's ability to hang up at any time and the person-centered care have helped its success, advocates say.The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also provide contact information for crisis centers around the world. Kate Spade and her husband, Andy, began building their iconic fashion empire in the ‘90s. Spade was a former accessories editor at a fashion magazine. In an interview with NPR’s Guy Raz last year, she described how the couple built their brand: “It’s funny. You know, Andy and I were talking one night. And I just said — I was looking ahead and I saw the fashion directors. That would be your next jump from being senior fashion editor. And I thought, I don’t really see myself wanting that job. So Andy and I were out, honestly, at a Mexican restaurant. And he just said, what about handbags? And I said, honey, you just don’t start a handbag company. And he said, why not? How hard can it be?” Spade started designing handbags in 1993 and opened her first store three years later. “Debuting with just six silhouettes, she combined sleek, utilitarian shapes and colorful palettes in an entirely new way,” the website says. The parent company of the handbag giant Coach spent nearly $3 billion to buy the Kate Spade clothing and handbag label and the Stuart Weitzman shoe brand. But sales have been dropping this year: Same-store sales for Kate Spade plunged 9% in the first quarter because of a huge drop in online revenue. CNN’s Holly Yan contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
Fashion designer Kate Spade’s apparent suicide on Tuesday morning shares some eerie similarities with the deaths of two other top designers who passed away in recent years: Alexander McQueen in 2010 and L’Wren Scott in 2014. Spade was found dead by her housekeeper in her Manhattan apartment at around 10:20 a.m., with an NYPD source via CNN saying that Spade was found hanging by a scarf tied to a doorknob. According to the Associated Press, Spade also left a note at the scene, but they were not authorized to share details. She was 55. Spade’s death shares a bizarre likeness to that of Scott. The fashionista, who was originally from Utah and designed for Mick Jagger and Madonna among others, died in 2014 at the age of 49. She too was found hanging from a scarf around her neck tied to a door knob but did not leave a note. McQueen, who died in 2010 at age 40, also hanged himself. The British designer left an undisclosed suicide note and was found in the closet to his London apartment. Spade got her start as the founder of Kate Spade’s handbags in the ’90s and eventually expanded to clothing, shoes and other fashion accessories. She’s related to comedian David Spade and “The Marvelous Ms. Maisel” actress Rachel Brosnahan. Her brand, Kate Spade New York, touts more than 140 retail shops and outlet stores across the U.S. and more than 175 shops internationally. Last year, the designer’s name brand fashion empire Kate Spade & Co. sold to Coach Inc., now named Tapestry.