Harry Brant, Scion and Socialite, Dies at 24
The younger half of “the Brant brothers” died of a prescription drug overdose after a years-long struggle with addiction.
Harry Brant, the son of supermodel Stephanie Seymour and billionaire magazine publisher Peter Brant, was found dead on Sunday at age 24. The cause of death was an accidental prescription drug overdose, after a years-long struggle with addiction. “We will forever be saddened that his life was cut short by this devastating disease,” the Brant family said in a statement. “He achieved a lot in his 24 years, but we will never get the chance to see how much more Harry could have done.”
Harry was just 15 when he established himself as one half of “the Brant brothers,” alongside his then 18-year-old sibling Peter Brant II. Even if they weren’t teens, the Brants would have stood apart in the both the fashion industry and party circuits across the globe. They were unabashedly extravagant, earning them the nickname “Little Lord Flauntleroys” in an early Vanity Fair profile. (“You’re nobody until PETA either loves you or hates you,” Harry said of their planned arrival to the Met Gala with a baby Panther in diamonds and a gold-plated Rolls Royce.)
Harry’s “preferred sport,” as he recently put it to Marc Jacobs, was getting dressed up. From the start, that meant pushing traditional notions of gender and femininity, which led to a unisex makeup line with MAC and his brother in 2015. “The gender lines are starting to blur again, which is really, really great,” Harry told W the following year. “I think people can definitely express themselves in a great way through makeup, because it is all about fantasy and turning yourself into someone you might not necessarily be on an everyday basis. So you kind of get to escape for a night with this new personal. That’s what I always did.”
Peter Brant II and Harry Brant at the 2013 Met Gala in New York City.
A part-time columnist for Interview, which his father owns, Harry also pursued a modeling career. (He made his runway debut with Balmain in 2015.) Meanwhile, he and his brother made no shortage of headlines for incidents like his arrest for refusing to pay a $27.85 cab fare in 2016. He embraced the ensuing press, comparing himself to Paris Hilton and Naomi Campbell in a series of lighthearted Instagrams.
“Our hearts are shattered,” Seymour and Peter Brant said in a statement to Page Six. “Harry wanted to overcome his addiction and was just days away from re-entering rehab.”
Related: For Stephanie Seymour, Designing Lingerie Is a Family Affair
