NEW YORK - A note found on a bed near fashion designer Kate Spade's body was addressed to her 13-year-old daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade, according to a report by tabloid news website TMZ.

Citing law enforcement sources, TMZ reported that the note said: "Bea - I have always loved you. This is not your fault. Ask Daddy!"

Spade, 55, was found unresponsive in her New York apartment on Tuesday (June 5, US time) in what the authorities say was a suicide by hanging.

A housekeeper found Spade in her bedroom hanging from a red scarf tied to a doorknob, the police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, Andy Spade, brother of actor and comedian David Spade, was home at the time.

Kate Spade, who founded the eponymous brand in 1993, was best known for her accessory line of colourful handbags with a distinctive spades playing card logo.

Kate Spade New York, the company she founded but sold in 2007, released a statement on her death saying: "We at Kate Spade New York just learned of the incredibly sad news that Kate Spade has passed.

"Although Kate has not been affiliated with the brand for more than a decade, she and her husband and creative partner, Andy, were the founders of our beloved brand. Kate will be dearly missed. Our thoughts are with Andy and the entire Spade family at this time."

In 2015, Spade and her husband launched a new fashion brand, Frances Valentine, named after their daughter, which focused only on handbags and shoes.