Larissa Brown, Noughties Model Turned Vintage Dealer, Is Tracking Down Her Greatest Hits

If you’re browsing resale shops for high fashion, you might come across a face of the late ’90s runways, Larissa Brown. The former model, who walked the runways of Christian Dior and Chanel and has appeared in the pages of Vogue, has a flourishing vintage shop called Sugar Shock Vintage. The page is rife with Chanel bags and Fendi monogrammed jackets. Brown makes cameos herself, and in one instance à la an editorial, models a pair of electric blue python-print pants and a matching beaded keyhole top from Tom Ford’s Gucci spring 2000 collection, the same top Miley Cyrus recently shouted out in her Instagram live video while streaming her “Midnight Sky” video. The selection is impeccable. After all, if you’re a fan of ’90s and early ’00s fashion, who better to buy from than a former top model?

And Brown got to experience the very best of the era’s clothes, even though she didn’t set out to be a model. She grew up in Roswell, a small town in Georgia. One day, she was walking her dog and someone suggested that she become a model. At first Brown resisted. It wasn’t until Brown flew to New York with her mother, met with several agencies, and then was signed by Marilyn that she realized modeling could be a potentially legitimate career. Less than two weeks later, Brown landed in Paris and was soon walking for Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, and Chanel. “It was like being in a real fairy tale and you had this like larger than persona. John Galliano was dashing around backstage, telling us these stories while we’re getting our hair and makeup done,” says Brown. “I had no idea how much went into creating a collection.” Brown later went on to shoot editorial and advertisements, including in the pages American Vogue as captured by Helmut Newton and later on the cover of Greek Vogue.