Harry Joseph Brant, a founding member of the next generation jet set and a new “It” boy look, was found dead on Sunday at the age of 24. The cause was an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, his family said. He struggled with addiction for several years.
“We will be sad whenever his life was interrupted by this devastating illness,” said his family in a statement. “He has achieved a lot in his 24 years, but we will never have a chance to see how much more Harry could have done.”
The youngest son of Peter M. Brant, an industrialist, editor and art collector, and Stephanie Seymour, one of the original supermodels, Mr. Brant grew up around celebrities in the world of style and art. He was a family presence at fashion shows and international parties at a young age, participating in the Met Gala at age 16. Vanity Fair called him “Little Lord Fauntleroy” for his relentless desire to enjoy his own good fortune and appearance, and New York The magazine once referred to Mr. Brant and his older brother, Peter Brant II, as ” NYC’s Most Beautiful Teenage Brothers ”; his social ubiquity seemed to invite a certain kind of hyperbole.
Although he later came to hate the name Fauntleroy, Mr. Brant was known to push the boundaries of the gender stereotype in cosmetics and clothing. He became involved in journalism as a teen columnist for his father’s Interview magazine, modeled for Balmain and Italian Vogue (among others), and, with his brother, founded a unisex makeup line with MAC, launching collections in 2015 and 2016.
In 2016, Mr. Brant was arrested after refusing to pay a cab ride in Greenwich, Connecticut, and charged with theft, interfering with a police officer and drug possession. Although he attended Bard College, he did not graduate. According to his parents, he was planning to enter a new drug rehab center this year and hoped to return to playing a bigger role in the creative side of Interview magazine.
In addition to Peter, Harry leaves a younger sister, as well as an older half-brother from his mother’s previous marriage to guitarist Tommy Andrews, and four half-brothers from his father’s previous marriage to Sandra Brant. (Another half-brother from Mr. Brant’s previous marriage died in 2019).
“Harry was not just our son,” said the family in the statement. “He was also a wonderful brother, loving grandson, favorite uncle and loving friend. He was a creative, loving and powerful soul that brought light to the hearts of so many people. He was really a beautiful person inside and out. “
In an interview with W magazine before one of the MAC kickoffs, Mr. Brant said: “I really think that when you leave high school, you realize that being normal is something that people want to avoid, and the more true you are for yourself and the more individual you are, the more people are inherently attracted to you. “Makeup, he added,” is all about fantasy and becoming someone you might not necessarily be in everyday life, so you kind of manage to escape for the night with this new persona. I always did that ”.