My First Kate Spade: 12 Women on How the Designer Impacted Their Personal Style

Azadeh Valanejad, Glamour Social Video Producer, 28

"When I was growing up, Kate Spade was always the epitome of being a modern-day Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn to me. I’ll never forget when I was in middle school and we came to New York for the holidays and I got my first Kate Spade bag. And then a striped tote in high school. And when I started to work, I would always save up to buy her accessories. Even today my desk at home is filled with Kate Spade office accessories, and my apartment has touches of Kate Spade home scattered throughout."

Jenny Meyer, Publicist, 38

"I saved up my allowance to buy my first Kate Spade bag—the gold mini backpack—and thought it pretty much made me the coolest girl in school. It was the very first fashion purchase I made myself and I wouldn't even let that bag touch the floor. Thank you, Kate Spade. You brought beauty and color to so many of us."

Jamie Stelter, News Anchor, 36

"I got the black box bag first, but the more memorable one for me was the silver messenger bag I got for my high school graduation. I carried it every day in college and still have it today. I think I need to break it back out now."

Laurel Pinson, Glamour Digital Director, 38

"I’ll never forget the feeling of getting my first Kate Spade bag in middle school—the Sam bag, a boxy, black nylon satchel with “Kate Spade” prominently displayed on the outside. It was a proxy for everything I aspired to be: modern, pulled-together, and above all, fashionable. “Kate Spade” meant style. I lived in New York, where knock-offs littered Canal Street, the ultimate sign of an It Bag, really—and I relished the idea that I owned an authentic original."