Rachel Brosnahan making documentary about her beloved aunt Katy — KC’s Kate Spade
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Rachel Brosnahan will direct and co-produce a documentary on Kate Spade.
- Project involves Scrap Paper Pictures, Andy Spade as EP and family participation.
- Film will link Spade’s Kansas City roots and legacy in fashion and design.
When the fashion world lost designer Kate Spade, actress Rachel Brosnahan lost her beloved aunt Katy — her father’s sister, one of six kids in the big, Irish-Catholic Brosnahan family in Kansas City.
Katy was the cool, fun auntie who let her crash in her spare bedroom in New York City when she made her Broadway debut, who left extra food for her in the fridge and attended her opening night, crying with pride as she watched her niece take her bows.
“That was the magic of Katy,” Brosnahan wrote on Instagram in June 2023. “She loved so hard she was often moved to tears, and laughter that moved through her entire body and joy that radiated out her pores. She spread stardust over everyone she came into contact with. I was lucky to be in her orbit.”
Spade took her life in her New York Park Avenue condominium on June 5, 2018, shocking fans who didn’t know of her private battle with depression and anxiety. She was 55.
Brosnahan, the Emmy-winning star of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” will make her directorial debut exploring Spade’s life and legacy in an upcoming documentary, Deadline reported last week.
Brosnahan and her production company, Scrap Paper Pictures, will also co-produce. Spade’s husband, Andy Spade, will be an executive producer; he and Spade were living apart at the time of her death. Their daughter, Frances Beatrix, known as Bea, was 13 when her mother died. Now 20, she is said to be following in her mother’s footsteps studying design in New York.
Brosnahan’s recent projects include movie roles in “Superman” — as Lois Lane — and “The Amateur” opposite Rami Malek. She will return in the “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow,” as well as a new season of the series “Presumed Innocent” (Apple TV+).
“Rachel is a remarkably talented storyteller and she has the most personal of connections to Kate Spade’s powerful story,” co-producer Connor Schell of Words + Pictures told Deadline
Spade’s story cannot be told without Kansas City, where family and friends still live and where Spade is buried.
She was born and raised here before she became one of the most iconic names in fashion, first with purses coveted from Hollywood to Main Street and then as an expansive global lifestyle brand also including clothing, footwear, jewelry and home goods. At her funeral in Kansas City, fans carried their favorite Kate Spade bags.
She was Katy Brosnahan in Kansas City, where she attended Notre Dame de Sion as a child and St. Teresa’s Academy as a young girl.
After they sold the business in 1999 and took a break to start their families, Spade and her best friend and business partner, Elyce Arons, launched a second fashion brand, Frances Valentine, that carries on the colorful, playful spirit of their first venture.
Arons, a Kansas native, recently wrote a memoir about their long-time friendship, beginning with their days at the University of Kansas where they met.
Brosnahan paid tribute to her aunt modeling for Frances Valentine in 2019, when she told People she and her family were “still grieving very deeply.”
“In the wake of Katy’s passing, my family and I were so overwhelmed and encouraged by the love and support we received from those who were touched by Katy’s work, many of whom were strangers from around the world,” she told People then.
“When you lose someone you love, you search for boundless ways to keep their memory alive. This felt like a way to do that through her beautiful creations and an opportunity to share them with all of those who her work meant so much to.”
Brosnahan attended her aunt’s funeral at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Redemptorist) in Kansas City on Aug. 15, 2018, which began with an announcement that made mourners gasp in shock.
Spade’s 89-year-old father, Frank Brosnahan, died at his Brookside-area home the night before, surrounded by family. He had been in failing health and was “heartbroken over the recent death of his beloved daughter,” the family said in a statement.
The 1,000 or so mourners that day sang “The First Noel” because Spade was born on Christmas Eve and her middle name was Noel, and ended the service with “Danny Boy,” paying homage to her heritage.
Abiding by her father’s wishes, Spade’s ashes are interred at Forest Hill & Calvary Cemetery on Troost Avenue.
The grave marker, near her mother’s, is unassuming: “Katherine Noel Brosnahan. 1962-2018. Imagine.”
The day after Spade died Brosnahan posted a video of her aunt smiling and dancing with her husband as a mariachi band played nearby.
“Knowing Katy, this is how she would want to be remembered,” she wrote, ending with “hug your loved ones extra tight today.”
No date for filming or release of the documentary has been made public.
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