Last season was creative director Nicola Glass’ debut collection at Kate Spade and she began to lay the groundwork for the brand’s sartorial next chapter. She remarked that her summer range “was a fluid cohesive evolution” from that restart, but now using the free spiritedness of summer in the city as a way to anchor her newest offering.
“The brand has always stood for color, but I wanted to make it a bit more unexpected and eclectic,” she said. This idea translated to a color palette that mixes brights with neutrals and variety of graphic, often floral, prints. Where previous iterations of the brand went overtly girlie with bows and large doses of sweetness, Glass’ revamp veers in a new, slightly sensual, direction with small cutouts on the shoulder of a maxidress, simple ruching details on tops and fittest print knit tops. It’s a femininity with a maturity in direction and playful newness.
Accessories are a category the brand is known for and Glass took some cues from the brand’s founders. “There was a purity with the accessories when Kate and Andy launched the brand,” she said. For summer she offered a mix of classic shapes — cross bodies, structured totes and top handle bags — and continues to use a spade marking as a way to identify her range, applying cutout spade grommets on totes, and using interlocking spade heart hardware on saddle bags. The marking is mixed into some clothing pieces, too, all meant as a way to establish a new visual identity for her consumer, without shouting it.
Kate Spade New York Pre-Fall 2019
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