Day: September 15, 2025

For designer Elyce Arons, a chance friendship at the University of Kansas with fellow journalism student Katie Brosnahan (later known to the world as Kate Spade) would change the fashion industry forever. 

In her new memoir, We Just Might Make It After All, Arons reflects on those early days, the deep bond that fueled her creative partnership with Spade and how her Kansas upbringing continues to shape her work with her fashion line, Frances Valentine. Fresh off being named the 2025 Kansan of the Year, she spoke with Kansas City magazine about her career and the values that still guide her today.

Tell me more about your Kansas roots. I grew up on a farm outside of Wichita called Sedgwick, which has been in my family for many generations. We raised Angus cattle and had wheat, corn, soybeans, alfalfa, milo—you name it. There were no sons, so us girls did the farm work. I went to the University of Kansas when I was 18, and that’s where I met Katie Brosnahan.

When you went to KU, did you intend to study fashion? I loved fashion, but at the time, I didn’t know if there was much of a career in it for me. My mother was a graphic designer and did a lot of fashion illustrations for all the stores in Wichita. But I had no such talent, so I was really interested in political science and journalism, and what really pushed me over the edge was my love for the character Mary Richards in The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

What made you and Katie connect? We were very different, but we immediately bonded because we were both majoring in the same thing. We’d walk back and forth to class together, and I think we each fell for the other’s sense of humor. We were also both very into vintage shopping. She was just a really lovely, gracious person and a very loyal friend.

How did your friendship grow into a business partnership? I had been working for several different fashion companies in New York for many years, and Katie had been at Mademoiselle magazine for about seven years when Andy Spade (Kate’s husband) started talking to her about starting her own handbag line. She was like, “What do I know about handbags?” And he said, “You know what you like and what you don’t like, and you know what’s missing in the market.”

They called me one night when I had just been relocated to North Carolina and said, “Do you want to start this business together?” I saw the bags and the idea behind it, and I really knew that by working with those two, who were brilliant at what they did, it was going to be a big success.

What do you carry with you from your Kansas upbringing in your work at Frances Valentine? I still learn a lot every single day, but there are a lot of values that are very Midwestern that I think will always remain true: being honest and transparent with people, being friendly and nice and gracious. I think that always matters and pays off in business.

Is there anything exciting coming down the pipeline for Frances Valentine? Next fall, we’re working on a collaboration with Mary Tyler Moore’s foundation, which is so full circle to me. They called us out of the blue and said they’d been watching our brand and that it reminds them so much of Mary. When I was on the Zoom with them, I held up a galley of my book, We Just Might Make It After All. The title is a line from the theme song of her TV show. They said when they saw me holding up that book, they knew it was a sign.

You were named 2025 Kansan of the Year. What does this recognition mean to you? It makes me so happy because I really value my roots and how I grew up and where I grew up. I loved going to the University of Kansas. The only sad thing about it, for me, is my father passed away two days before I found out about this. He would have loved it.  

Trunk Show & Book Signing with Elyce Arons, September 25th Hall’s, 2450 Grand Blvd., KCMO, 4–6pm