Elyce Arons Honors Kate Spade in Candid Memoir: “We Might Just Make It After All” Offers Intimate Look at Friendship and Loss
It has taken Elyce Arons seven years to find the words to write publicly about the loss of her best friend, fashion designer Kate Spade. On June 5, 2018, Spade died by suicide in her New York City apartment—a devastating moment that left her family, friends, and fans around the world reeling.
Now, in her forthcoming memoir We Might Just Make It After All, Arons—Spade’s longtime business partner and closest confidante—opens up about the private side of a woman the world knew mostly through bold colors, playful designs, and the signature name “Kate Spade.” But as Arons makes clear, behind the iconic brand was “Katy”—a loyal friend, a sensitive soul, and someone who “felt things more deeply than most.”
Their friendship began on a humid August day in 1981, when the two met as freshmen at the University of Kansas. Arons recalls their first interaction with vivid affection—bonding over beauty products and shared humor. That connection would shape both of their lives, eventually leading them to co-found a brand that would redefine American fashion in the 1990s.
Spade, born Katherine Noel Brosnahan, later transferred with Arons to Arizona State University, where she met her future husband and business partner, Andy Spade. After graduation, the trio moved to Manhattan. Katy landed a job at Mademoiselle magazine, where her frustration with the handbag market—either too fussy or too plain—sparked an idea that would soon become a fashion revolution.
Together with Andy, Arons, and another close friend, Pamela Bell, Spade launched a line of handbags that combined minimalist design with vibrant personality. It was Andy who proposed the name “Kate Spade,” a blend of Katy’s first name and his last. The simplicity of the name mirrored the clean, confident lines of their designs—and it stuck.
Though Spade was initially hesitant to have her name front and center, she eventually embraced the brand’s identity. In 1995, just two years after their launch, Kate Spade New York was nominated for a CFDA Award, putting them alongside industry giants like Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan. Arons recalls how Spade nervously clutched her hand under the table, secretly hoping they wouldn’t win just to avoid a speech. When they did, Spade delivered a brief but memorable thank you—charming, self-effacing, and entirely her.
Despite the whirlwind success and expansion into eyewear, stationery, and fragrance, fame took its toll. In one late-night phone call during a solo promotional tour, Spade confided in Arons, “Not great! And I know it’s not your fault, but I feel abandoned by you.” It was one of the few moments when Spade expressed just how overwhelmed she felt. As Arons admits now, “I had no idea because I’d never done it.”
In 2006, the partners sold their remaining stake in the company. The brand they built had become a global powerhouse, yet Katy’s need for creative expression and connection remained. In 2016, she and Arons reunited professionally to launch a new venture: Frances Valentine. It was a return to their roots, both creatively and personally.
But two years later, on June 5, 2018, Katy was gone.
In We Might Just Make It After All, Arons writes about the moment she realized her friend was truly no longer there—an encounter in Spade’s apartment when a closet door burst open and a wave of moths flew out. “Katy had never used mothballs because of the smell,” Arons writes. “She was really and truly gone.”
Her grief, she says, is “a permanent ache.” Yet through these pages, Arons offers more than just sorrow—she shares laughter, memories, and the small moments that defined a profound friendship. From stealing away for margaritas in Cabo San Lucas to joking about old age and bridge games, Arons paints a deeply human portrait of a woman who, despite fame, never stopped being Katy to her.
The memoir also speaks to the silent struggles many people face, even behind lives that seem filled with success. “All of us who loved her have had to find a way to make peace with her incomprehensible choice,” Arons writes. “It’s not been easy. I’ve learned to never take the people whom I care about for granted.”
With this book, Elyce Arons offers a reminder of the invisible battles carried by even the brightest among us—and a tribute to a woman whose work, wit, and warmth changed fashion, and the lives of those around her.
We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade will be available June 17, and is currently available for preorder wherever books are sold.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org for confidential support.