Dorothea Voigt was born in Berlin. Her father worked as an architect. She grew up with her family in Berlin's Weissensee quarter, ending up after the war in the Soviet occupation zone, which would be relaunched in October 1949 as the Soviet sponsored German Democratic Republic (East Germany). She studied fashion and design at the . At the end of the course students were required to submit a dissertation. Voigt completed her degree in 1960 with a dissertation that was savagely critical of East Germany's popular fashion magazine, which had been founded in 1956, a few years earlier: she was repelled by the publication's staid fashions, its pathetic poses and its housewifely approach. Margot Pfannstiel, editor-in-chief at , became aware of Dorothea's dissertation and spotted an opportunity. The women met: "I've read your work: it's most interesting. If you know it all with such clarity, then start here. Do [the fashion section] yourself, and make it better" ("Ich habe Ihre Arbeit gelesen, ist ja interessant. Wenn Sie alles so genau wissen, dann fangen Sie mal hier an. Und machen das mal, und zwar besser.") In 1961 the 23-year-old was recruited to the magazine, mandated to create a modern socialist image for women.