Kate Spade loves her flats. “You know, they’re just so easy to kick off!” Spade has plenty reason to kick up her feet these days, having recently launched a new accessories lines, Frances Valentine. The company’s name draws inspiration from her mother’s and father’s family names, and is Spade’s first toe-dip back into fashion since 2006, when she left the eponymous and wildly popular brand she co-founded with her husband, Andy Spade. Her esthetic, she says, is slightly different this time around. “I’ve evolved, which is a euphemism for saying I’ve matured,” she laughs. “It’s like what you wore eight years ago may not be what you’re wearing now, but it’s not so different. It just has a slightly different personality.” What hasn’t changed: Spade’s obsession with craftsmanship and getting the details exactly right—which is to say, all of the shoes and bags that comprise the well-edited line are “perfectly imperfect,” Spade explains.
Her personal favorites from the spring collection include the Beatrix leather sandals with a geodesic dome heel, the square-toe bejeweled Josephine flats, and the four-inch Valentina suede sandals (perhaps more to admire than to slip on herself). Of all the options, Spade says, “You can wear them with a little pair of jeans, and they look great, but they’re not too loud or over the top.” The bags also make just enough of a statement. Some are monogrammed with the initials F.V. while others feature the brand’s signature insignia—a circle drawn freehand. This touch adds an extra pop of interest and also appears on many of the shoes. “It’s a component that makes you say, ‘Oh my gosh, I just have to have those!’”
