Andy Spade pays tribute to wife Kate Spade with a Christmas tree in the desert
The last time Andy Spade posted to his Instagram, it was May.
He returned to social media early Tuesday with a loving tribute to his late wife, Kate Spade, the Kansas City-born designer of iconic handbags who took her life June 5.
Though the holidays are still nearly five months away, Spade created Christmas in July for his followers by posting a photo of a tree he and their daughter, Frances Beatrix, decorated with lights and a tin foil star.
“Andy thank you for sharing a bit of Christmas on a glorious Sunny Summer morning,” one of his followers wrote on the post.
It was fitting tribute to a woman whose middle name was Noel.
“She was born Christmas Eve, 1962. She loved the Midwest, the desert, and the city,” he wrote. “I was lucky enough to have dear friends let my daughter and stay at their home through a difficult time.
“This tree was standing alone beside the house so we ordered those multicolored, old fashioned lights from Amazon or Target and another dear personal friend gave me a really Iong extension cord and Bea and I cut a star out of the cardboard box the lights came on and wrapped it in Reynolds wrap (TM) like we do every Christmas.”
Spade has said very little publicly since his wife’s death, other than to issue a statement calling her death a “complete shock.”
He spoke of the “personal demons” she was battling and revealed that for five years she had been “actively seeking help for depression and anxiety.”
He also confirmed reports that he had been living separately from his wife for 10 months, “trying to work through our problems in the best way we knew how. We were together for 35 years. We loved each other very much and simply needed a break.”
The day she died, Spade’s brother, comedian David Spade, posted one of his favorite photos of her on Instagram, and it, too, had a Christmas theme.
“Fuzzy picture but i love it,” David wrote. “Kate and I during Christmas family photos. We had so much fun that day. She was so sharp and quick on her feet. She could make me laugh so hard. I still cant believe it. Its a rough world out there people, try to hang on.”
How many Christmas mornings were made merry when someone found a Kate Spade purse waiting under the tree? Fans recalled many of those moments after she died.
Her funeral, held in Kansas City, began with mourners singing the Christmas carol “The First Noel.”
One of Andy Spade’s followers wrote on his Instagram post: “We need a little Christmas, right this very moment!”