The American designer Kate Spade was found dead on Tuesday, according to police officials.
The police said that Ms. Spade, 55, was discovered unresponsive at a Park Avenue apartment, where she had hanged herself. She had left a note, but the official did not comment on what it said. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:26 a.m.
A housekeeper found Ms. Spade in her bedroom hanging from a red scarf tied to a doorknob, the police said. She was unconscious and the housekeeper called 911.
Ms. Spade’s husband was at the scene. A police spokesman did not know the whereabouts of Ms. Spade’s daughter.
Kate Spade, one of the first of a powerful wave of female American contemporary designers in the 1990s, built a brand on the appeal of clothes and accessories that made women smile. Her cheerful non-restraint struck a chord with consumers, as did her bright prints. She herself was the embodiment of her aesthetic, with her proto-1960s bouffant, nerd glasses, and kooky grin, which masked a business mind that saw the opportunities in becoming a lifestyle brand, almost before the term officially existed.
Ms. Spade and her husband-to-be, Andy, launched Kate Spade in 1993. Within a few years, she had opened a SoHo shop and was collecting industry awards, her name a shorthand for the cute, clever bags that were an instant hit with career women and, later, young girls, status symbols of a more attainable, all-American sort than a Fendi clutch or Chanel bag.
In 1999, the Spades sold the business to Neiman Marcus Group, which sold it to Liz Claiborne, Inc. in 2006. Ms. Spade became the very visible face of her brand.
The Spades left Kate Spade in 2007, and devoted themselves to other projects. Ms. Spade dedicated herself to her family and to philanthropy, and in 2016, together with her husband and two friends, launched a new venture, an accessories label called Frances Valentine. She was so committed to the project that she told interviews she had changed her surname from Spade to Valentine.
William K. Rashbaum and Ashley Southall contributed reporting.