We Might Just Make It After All
My Best Friendship with Kate Spade
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4.5 • 63 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A moving portrait of friendship by Elyce Arons as she reflects on her long relationship with Kate Spade, whom she met in college and with whom she cofounded the multi-billion-dollar fashion company as they came of age in 1990s New York.
When Elyce Arons first met Katy Brosnahan in a University of Kansas dorm room, she had no idea that this polo shirt–wearing Missouri girl would not only become her best friend but also change the course of her life. Back then, Katy and Elyce were preoccupied with frat parties and The Mary Tyler Moore Show; within a decade, they’d be scraping by in New York City, working day jobs to spend nights building a new line of handbags that would one day revolutionize the accessories industry.
We Might Just Make It After All brings us on the rollercoaster of adventures (and misadventures) that the best friends embarked on, from transferring colleges on a whim, to falling in and out of love with suitors, cramming into roach-infested Hell’s Kitchen apartments, and eventually designing the chic, simple bag that would launch the pair to global fame. Through it all, Katy and Elyce’s friendship remained unshakeable. This powerful friendship lasted nearly forty years, until Katy’s tragic suicide in 2018. We Might Just Make It After All celebrates her legacy as a cultural icon and loyal friend.
Set against the glitzy and gritty backdrop of downtown New York at the turn of the century, We Might Just Make It After All lovingly and candidly explores the power of a friendship as close as sisterhood, the challenges facing women entrepreneurs in the 1990s, and the timeless elegance of a generation-defining brand.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Businesswoman Arons debuts with a heartfelt memoir about her personal and professional relationship with the late fashion designer Kate Spade. The two met the day they moved into their dorms at the University of Kansas in 1981, and remained friends and business partners until Spade died by suicide in 2018. Lengthy chapters about building the Kate Spade brand, which catalog Arons's late nights working alongside Spade; Spade's husband. Andy; and entrepreneur Pamela Bell in 1990s New York City, will satisfy fashion aficionados. It's the evolution of Arons and Spade's sisterlike relationship, however, that lends the book its beating heart. The title is in homage to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which Arons and Spade adored, and which serves as a touchstone for the sweetness and optimism that characterized their bond. (An anecdote about Moore visiting the Spade showroom is particularly delightful.) When that optimism dwindles, and Spade's debilitating struggles with depression and anxiety take over, it's gut-wrenching. Moving, insightful, and bursting with love, this ode to female friendship resonates far beyond the retail racks.
Customer Reviews
So good and so sad at the same time
I loved this book. It brought back so many memories - when I first heard about this new handbag designer in New York, to when I bought my first Kate Spade bag a few year’s later at the KS boutique on Oak St in Chicago.
LOVE!
I have been an admirer (and customer) of Kate Spade for years and was deeply saddened at her passing. What a beautiful tribute and continuation of her legacy.
Loved this book
I loved the book and the writer personal way of telling the story. Great story, I loved this ladies and company, beautiful friendship. Good luck and blessings to you all!!