Caroline Brasch Nielsen’s New Vintage E-Shop Is Your New Destination for One-of-a-Kind Summer Outfits

“Every time I would travel, I would find out where the vintage shops were,” says Caroline Brasch Nielsen, the 25-year-old Dane who has traversed the globe modeling for the likes of Chanel, Christian Dior, and Valentino. It’s a habit that has amassed her a treasure trove of second-hand designer pieces, which she’s recently opened up to the public through her new e-boutique, CBN Vintage. “I never thought I was going to open a vintage shop. For a long time, I just had a lot [of vintage] myself,” confesses Nielsen over the phone from Copenhagen, where her online-only collection will be available to shop in person, come September, at a pop-up held at the popular eatery Atelier September (owned by her boyfriend, chef Frederik Bille Brahe). “I just had such a big collection [that] I really wanted to share it.”
Nielsen has been known to pair an ’80s Saint Laurent Rive Gauche heart-stamped dress with a glitzy barrette, or a Dior logo jacket with traffic-cone-orange carpenter pants. “When you think about vintage, a lot of people think it’s [just] old clothes, but for me, vintage is not like that at all,” she says. “You can make it really cool and unique and young and fresh . . . and you won’t run into other people having the same thing on.” In fact, it’s her singular style that makes her curation stand apart: “[Before buying anything] I always ask, ‘Would I wear it myself?’ That’s my number-one rule."
If Nielsen initially had a hard time parting with her souvenirs (an Hermès cheetah-print tee, color-blocked Manolo mules, a daisy-dotted Moschino bikini), she’s come to relish the experience: “In the beginning, I thought it would be really difficult to sell the clothes, but then I just found happiness seeing other people wearing them,” she says. And the feel-good vibes don’t stop there: “I love the fact that vintage is sustainable—that you give it to someone else and they can wear it. That way we can take care of the earth.” A model with a mission—cheers to that.