Margit Brandt

Her inventiveness and confident style won her recognition and in 1966 she continued her career in the couture house of Louis Feraud on Rue du Fauborg Saint Honore.

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.

Soon Margit and Erik were producing everything from ladies fashion to lingerie, furs, sportswear, watches, personal care products, household articles 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 City.

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.