The revolutionary Kate Spade

Women of all shapes and sizes and races bought Kate Spade. This was truly revolutionary.

Kate Spade.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

To get my first Kate Spade handbag, I had to go through a secret door, walk down a flight of rickety steps, and cut across some sort of a courtyard that reeked of fish, before pushing my way into a tiny back room, already stuffed with other women looking for the perfect Chanel, Dior, or Prada to dangle from their arm.

All of this rigmarole wasn't even for the real thing — I walked away from that shady Canal Street storefront with a knockoff, but I was 20, it was my first time in New York City, and I didn't care. I had longed for one of Kate Spade's iconic boxy nylon bags (the Sam) since my high school days, when I thought they were the height of effortless sophistication, and as a college student whose income came courtesy of babysitting, editing for the campus newspaper, and tutoring my hairdresser's daughter, I wasn't going to get an authentic Sam anytime soon. I did make myself a promise, though — one day, I would have a real Kate Spade.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.