Kate Spade New York is one of the few fashion companies in the world that is tagged as strong and recognizable in the world of fashion. Whatever a woman wears, it is very easy to determine whether or not it is a Kate Spade item, or a Kate Spade woman.
While everybody is going crazy about the Kate Spade epoch, there is one woman in the person of Deborah Lloyd, the Chief Creative Officer of Kate Spade, who keeps the passion for fashion burning. Lloyd's office in Manhattan is filled with different colors and patterns with many unusual yet sophisticating touches that varnish the landscape.
New York is definitely far from rural England where Lloyd was born and raised by her mother who used to live during the era of vintage clothing. Such customary accompanied by her aunt and grandmother's taste for style, Lloyd developed an extraordinary love for fashion. However, she had never realized and seen herself using her own hands in expediting this appreciation for design.
There came a day when Lloyd's school held a careers evening which featured a lecturer from the College of Arts who discussed everything about fashion.
"I suddenly went, 'Oh!'" Lloyd says. "I remember to this day, that moment, it just hit me like a lightning bolt and I remember standing up saying, 'I want to become a fashion designer. How do I do it?'"
After realizing that she really wanted to pursue the career, Lloyd completed a foundation course in the arts, put together her very own portfolio and applied for London college. Even though her course has tackled almost everything, she chose to concentrate more in menswear during her Master's degree at the Royal College of Art.
Lloyd says, "I was very strategic about it. I knew there were so few women doing menswear, and so few people doing menswear in general, so if you did a good menswear collection you could stand out from the crowd - and sure enough, I did."
After graduation, there were plenty of job offers for Lloyd from brands like Gucci and Paul Smith. Hence, she ended up at one of the hottest menswear brands out of Italy in the '90s, the Byblos.
"Looking back, it might be nice to have Gucci, but Gucci has been through many iterations," she furthered. "When you look at building your career and your CV, you can't second guess it, you've got to go for what feels right. That opened the flood gates and I was like, 'Why have I been torturing myself with menswear for so long?'" Lloyd says.
Kate Spade New York is an American fashion design house founded in January 1993 by Kate Spade. Jack Spade is the brand's line for men. Kate Spade New York competes with Michael Kors and Coach Inc.
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