Style soulmates! Elyce Arons sat down with ET to celebrate the release of her memoir, We Might Just Make It After All, which details her friendship and business partnership with the late Kate Spade as they built the eponymous brand, Kate Spade, together.
Arons, the co-founder and CEO of Frances Valentine, which was also co-created with Spade before the designer died in at age 55 in June 2018, shared the top fashion advice she and Spade exchanged.
“Our personal style wasn’t always aligned, especially when we first met. Katy had a much more traditional, preppy style, and mine was more trend-driven, and always trying to emulate the latest looks in magazines,” Arons admits.
While the duo was initially drawn to different fads, they eventually blended their unique senses of fashion to create timeless outfits.
“It was fun to learn from each other. … We truly found the most inspiration from vintage and really bonded over our love of vintage shopping and searching for treasures we both appreciated and could afford,” she spills.
Spade’s favorite finds: “Katy loved colorful and joy-sparking pieces, whether vintage or new. She always treasured pieces with excellent design and great quality.”
“We’d imagine the story behind each piece, and think about the woman who had owned it,” Arons adds.
Some of those style icons included stars like Mary Tyler Moore, Ali McGraw, Kathryn Hepburn, and Jackie Onassis, before A-listers like Gwyneth Paltrow, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Mindy Kaling, and Taylor Swift were spotted in their designs.
“We loved when celebrities chose to carry our bags, but to us, it was the every-woman bag. Buying a Kate Spade bag became a rite of passage for so many young women entering the work force,” the author explains.
And the original Kate Spade purses from the 1990s still hold up today.
“One of my biggest pieces of advice for young people who are trying to find their style is to start with vintage. … A fun, colorful handbag, a summer basket bag, kitten heels, Mary Jane flats, and loads of costume jewelry for layering,” she suggests.
As for what you can never go wrong with? “A crisp white shirt — or 10 — a pair of black cigarette pants — or 3 — a go-to swing coat, trench, or jacket in a fun print or color, a great fitting pair of jeans, and a fabulous dress that makes you feel like a million bucks,” Arons dishes.
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