Margit brandt

Margit Brandt (born 1942) is a Danish fashion designer and by many considered the founder of Scandinavian fashion.

Biography

Margit Brandt started her career as an apprentice in Paris with the grand master of the time French fashion designer Pierre Balmain. Her inventiveness and confident style won her recognition and she later continued her career in the couture house of Louis Feraud on Rue du Fauborg Saint Honore. In 1965 she married Erik Brandt, who was working with the French company Mendes (owned by the nephew of the former French president Pierre Mendes Frances), which produced prêt-a-porter for Lanvin, Guy La Roche, Yves Saint Laurent and many others.The marriage would be the catalyst to one of the most successful Scandinavian designer couple. The Brandts returned to Denmark shortly after their marriage and in 1965 Margit introduced her own collection at the Copenhagen Fashion Fair under the B-age label. In the eyes of her contemporaries this was a line of unprecedentedly short and close-fitting designs, but the collection immediately grabbed the interest of an otherwise neglected age group between teenagers and "genteel" ladies. B-age became the essence of fashion for the first generation of young women in Scandinavia.

Soon Margit and Erik were producing everything from ladies fashion to lingerie, furs, sportswear, watches, personal care products and accessories. The trendsetting designs found their way to the showrooms of Harrods, Bendels, Takashimaya, Saks and Bloomingdales, a wide network of own label stores sprung up across the world from London, Paris and Barcelona to Tokyo, San Francisco and New York. Erik had a nose for branding and self promotion, one year the staff at the fashion fair were replaced by a red telephone with a direct line to head office. Buyers could simply call in their orders if they wanted to buy anything.As jetsetters the couple developed an eccentric group of friends based in and around the famous New York club Studio 54 where they developed close friendships with the likes of Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Diana Vreeland, Truman Capote and Grace Jones.

In the early 1980’s Margit and Erik Brandt announced they were tired of designing and making clothes and moved to New York permanently.

In 2005 again based in Denmark they have commenced designing and producing fashion clothes again.

Special mention and awards

1988 Margit designs the entry uniform of the Danish Olympic team.
1994 Margit Brandt’s 60’s designs are exhibited at Aarhus Women’s Museum in Denmark.
1997 Margit designs gala uniforms for the Royal Danish Airforce.
2006 The Danish fashion award “Guldknappen” (the golden button) is given to Margit
2007 The Danish Queen Margrete II awards Margit with the Cross of Dannebro