Kate Spade and her designs remembered as 'a heck of a lot of fun'

In this May 2004 file photo, Kate Spade poses with handbags and shoes from her next collection in New York.

Bright. Vibrant. Colourful. And, most essentially, fun. The same words used so often to describe Kate Spade’s enormously popular handbags – “It” bags that were both aspirational and affordable – were an apt description of the woman herself, say many in the fashion world.

And that only contributed to the sense of shock and loss in the industry upon hearing the news on June 5 that Spade had apparently taken her own life at 55. Spade was found hanged in the bedroom of her Park Avenue apartment Tuesday morning in an apparent suicide, law enforcement officials said.