How Did I Get Here?

Deborah Lloyd

Chief creative officer, Kate Spade
  • Education
  • Coombe Dean School, Plymouth, England, class of 1982
  • Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, London, class of 1986
  • Royal College of Art, London, class of 1988
  • Work Experience
  • 1988–90
    First assistant, Byblos
  • 1990–94
    Head of design studio, Daniel Hechter
  • 1994–96
    Responsable du style, Kenzo Jungle, Kenzo
  • 1996–97
    Head of women’s design, Aquascutum London
  • 1997–2001
    Vice president for women’s design, Burberry
  • 2001–07
    Executive vice president for product development and design, Banana Republic
  • 2007–Present
    Chief creative officer, Kate Spade
  • Life Lessons
  • “You have to trust yourself as the guardian of a brand to have the right instinct.”
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  • “In the age of e-mail and texts, a handwritten note always stands out.”
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  • “The hat doesn’t always fit, and you must recognize it and move on.”
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  • First day of high school, 1978
    “My first job, at 16, was selling jeans at Jean Genie. I was terrible—if I didn’t have a customer’s size, I’d hide in the back.”
  • Won “best student”
  • “I arrived in Milan and walked into the menswear show, and they’d completely lifted my entire college collection—there it was on the catwalk. Note to self: Read the small print.”
  • “It was a dusty English brand. When Rose Marie Bravo started as chief executive officer, I showed her a collection of 12 pieces I’d done, and she said, ‘You’re the first person I’ve met who knows what they’re doing.’”
  • With Kate Spade CEO Craig Leavitt, 2014
    “America came calling. I learned the people piece—how to lead and inspire a big team.”
  • The company says net sales will be up 10 percent this year, to $1.2 billion
  • With Penelope Pitstop, her vintage Jaguar, in the 2000s
  • “I worked out how to win competitions. There was a running joke among tutors that I made more money than they did. I won a Karl Lagerfeld Scholarship to go to RCA.”
  • In Paris, 1991
    “I moved to Paris. I had strategically decided to be a menswear designer, because there were so few and I could stand out. Then Daniel gave me the womenswear studio.”
  • On a trip to Amsterdam while studying at the Royal College of Art, 1987
  • “I oversee design, store design, and creative marketing. We’ve grown into a lifestyle brand, and I’ve done it my way.
  • With stylist Brad Goreski and Anna Kendrick at a fashion show, 2014