Best friends Elyce Arons and Kate Spade idolized Mary Tyler Moore. Because of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” about a plucky single reporter in 1970s Minneapolis, the two bonded, studied journalism and launched two companies: Kate Spade and Frances Valentine, whose colorful, vintage-inflected fashions owe a debt to Moore’s retro threads.
“I wanted to be Mary,” Arons tells Alexa. So, when Moore’s widow, Dr. Robert Levine, reached out to her, she was “on cloud nine.”
On Sept. 29, Frances Valentine is releasing a limited-edition capsule collection inspired by Moore’s iconic TV characters. Twenty percent of net sales will go to the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative, dedicated to advancing vision research and raising awareness around diabetes-related vision loss (which Moore, who died in 2017, suffered from).
The line includes 14 ready-to-wear styles, plus shoes and bags, all drawn from the actress’ 1960s and ’70s costumes. Think: turtlenecks, jumpers, peacoats and a pair of cropped cigarette pants which Moore made famous on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
“It’s really good to see those pants in the collection,” Levine says, adding that CBS tried to stop Moore from wearing them. “They were worried about [viewers seeing] the shape of Mary’s tush!”
Levine calls his meeting with Arons a “godcidence — a coincidence in which you see the hand of providence.” A colleague had shown him an Instagram post of Arons holding up her 2025 memoir about her friendship with the late Spade, “We Just Might Make It After All,” named after a line from the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
When he first visited the showroom, he noticed how many of Frances Valentine’s offerings “already matched up with Mary’s style,” he says. A collab was a no-brainer.
He invited the design team to his Greenwich, Conn., home to view Moore’s collection of Armani suits and couture Scaasi gowns. “Robert pushed a button, and her closet opened up,” Arons recalls. “I was nervous about even touching them!” But Levine insisted she try them on. “I felt like a princess,” she says.
Arons examined the collection, rewatched Moore’s shows and scoured awards show photos looking for pieces that she could reinterpret, including the famous tam hat from the opening credits of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
“The hat took about three or four different samples to make sure we got it right,” Arons says. Levine gave it — and several other Moore ensembles — to Arons for “safekeeping.” “I keep it right next to me in the office,” Arons says.
The pair are already planning a follow-up collection for Spring 2027.
“If I could dream up anyone I’d do a collaboration with in the world, it would be Mary Tyler Moore,” Arons says. “It makes it almost even more special because I know Katy [Spade] would love this too.”
As for Levine? “I love it,” he says. “It is Mary.”
