Kate Spade co-founder, fashion entrepreneur Elyce Arons, named Kansan of the Year
Elyce Arons, the Kansas farm girl who built a fashion empire with her best friend and fellow University of Kansas student Kate Spade, has been named the 2025 Kansan of the Year by the Kansas Society of Washington, D.C.
The nonprofit group, a member of the National Conference of State Societies, has honored a Sunflower state native every year since 1963. The society recognizes people who demonstrate Kansas values of hard work, integrity and honor while inspiring others and contributing to the world around them.
Past honorees include President Dwight D. Eisenhower and, last year, Mitch Holthus, the longtime voice of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Arons is the CEO of Frances Valentine, the fashion brand she and Spade co-founded 10 years after they sold their first company, Kate Spade New York. Arons lives in New York City.
Spade, a Kansas City native, died in her New York apartment in 2018.
Arons recently wrote a memoir, “We Might Just Make It After All,” about their long-time friendship and adventures in the high-stakes fashion world. The book, released in June, debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times Best Sellers list.
“For myself, it was a really good walk down memory lane, really cathartic in a way,” Arons told The Star in a recent interview. “And I wanted to honor Katy and her legacy ... because I feel like so many people remember her because of her being gone. And I want them to remember her how she lived.
“She was such a shy person that most people didn’t really get to know who she was. She was gracious and funny, she was the funniest person I’ve ever met, honest to God.
“So I wanted to tell our best-friendship story for anybody who wants to read a good book during this chaotic world we’re living in and remember that there are good, happy people out there, because most of us are still good and happy people ... and for young women to know that they can do this.”
Arons arrived at KU in Lawrence in August 1981 where she met fellow freshman Spade, known as “Katy” to family and friends. They were fast friends, later finishing college at Arizona State University and both eventually ending up in New York City.
Arons and Spade — along with Katy’s future husband Andy Spade and their friend Pamela Bell — co-founded Kate Spade. One of the most iconic brands in the fashion world began as a line of handbags coveted by celebrities and working women alike.
After selling the company and starting their families, Arons and Spade launched Frances Valentine in 2016, a luxury brand known for “mood-boosting” clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories that use vibrant colors and prints and pay homage to vintage fashion.
Arons told The Star that some people to this day do not realize that Spade co-founded Frances Valentine, which stayed true to the colorful, playful spirit that infused Kate Spade New York.
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“I feel so lucky to have grown up on a farm in Kansas, the youngest of four daughters,” Arons said in a statement after being named Kansan of the Year. “My parents made sure we were involved in community organizations like 4-H, where the values of hard work, honesty, grace and kindness were reinforced.
“The beauty of the state, from the waving wheat fields, to the scent of alfalfa growing in the pasture, to the vistas of fields of crops for miles and miles, cannot adequately be described in words. There truly is no place like home.”
Arons “is an incredibly successful fashion designer, entrepreneur, and businesswoman, and we are excited to highlight her success,” the Kansas Society board said in a statement.
“What started as a simple friendship at the University of Kansas morphed into an international business success both at Kate Spade and Frances Valentine, and the Kansas Society looks forward to celebrating Elyce and her achievements at our annual banquet later this year.”
Before that, Arons will appear in Kansas City at a trunk show and book signing from 4 to 6 pm. Sept. 25 at the Fall Style Event at Halls Kansas City, the luxury department store in Crown Center.
Halls had a long relationship with Spade. The store was one of the first retailers in Kansas City to carry Spade’s handbag line when it launched in 1993 and she attended special events there, meeting and greeting fans.
Today, Halls is the exclusive Frances Valentine retailer in town. In the hours after Spade died seven years ago, the store sold out of many pieces in the line as fans mourned her passing.
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 10:09 AM.
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