Harry Brant, who found fame as a precocious teenage esthete with a distinct androgynous look and was a staple on the New York elite fashion scene with his older brother, Peter, was found dead on Sunday at age 24. He died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
O New York Times he said he struggled with addiction for several years and that, according to his family, he would soon go into rehab.
Harry was the son of Stephanie Seymour, one of the original supermodels, and Peter M. Brant, the editor and art collector. As such, he grew up in a golden world, having fun in nightclubs, yachts and restaurants around the world accompanied by supermodels, famous photographers and social media stars.
He considered Naomi Campbell (his mother’s maid of honor) and Courtney Love as friends. He dated his friendship with the latter at the first meeting, saying: “We were friends from the first time we met and realized that we were carrying the same book on Greek mythology.”
At 16, he was one of the youngest to be invited to Vogue’s Met Ball Gala, wearing an embroidered Yves Saint Laurent jacket. His connections with the top of the fashion and publishing world were evident, as he was invited to contribute a photo diary of the event to the fashion magazine W.
He lived in an apartment in New York City with his brother Peter, often traveling home on weekends to the family home in Connecticut, the 53-acre White Birch Stud Farm, named after the papermaking company. White Birch newspaper by Peter Brant Senior.
Brant Sr. had an amazing collection of art, including a 3-meter-tall Jeff Koons sculpture, Balloon dog (orange). The art collection consists of more than 1,000 pieces, including works by Andy Warhol (who he met when he was 20) Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Richard Serra.
Brant Sr. married Seymour when he was 48 and she 26 and still a Victoria’s Secret top model, he commissioned a naked bust of her from artist Maurizio Cattelan known as “Trophy wife”. The piece was fixed on a wall like a hunting trophy, according to the brothers Vanity Fair, who approvingly called Harry “Little Lord Fauntleroy”. New york magazine referred to Harry and Peter as “New York’s Most Beautiful Teen Brothers”.
Surrounded by fashion, Harry modeled for Balmain and Italian Vogue, and founded a unisex makeup line with MAC, launching collections in 2015 and 2016.
He said Vanity Fair who liked the idea of dressing and “taking on a new persona, every time you go out. Once, I’m going to think of myself as, like, a military captain or a prince who has been banished from his country.
In 2016, he was arrested after refusing to pay a cab ride in Greenwich, Connecticut, and charged with theft, interfering with a police officer and drug possession.
“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.”