Meet Coco & Breezy. The 19 year-old twin couture eye wear designers (& models) are steadily making a name for themselves in the fashion game. Recently moving to NYC to pursue their dream full time, the sisters hand make all their eye wear and hustle them to various people themselves.
With celebrities like: Ashanti, Kelly Osbourne, Amber Rose, and more rocking ‘Gemela Amor by coco&breezy’, they are definitely going to be the ones to look out for in 2010. I recently caught up with the twins, so they could speak more about their up and coming brand. Read below..
1. When was the company started? Why did you start it?
The line was started about 6 months ago when we were 18 years old. We actually showed our 1st line of clothing and we designed the glasses just to add a “POP!” to the garments. The Glasses ended up being the hit! We designed what we call “custom couture eye wear” and started the brand ourselves, with no PR, or any type of management.
2. I heard you ladies recently moved to NYC to pursue this dream? Where are you originally from?
We are originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota which is in the Midwest (where there is really no fashion outlets) and people looked at us crazy or pointed and laughed at us because of our style. We have been traveling back and forth to NYC for a couple years now and we always just went to visit from 2-4 days at a time. But our last visit in NYC was a life changing experience for us. We met so many people, our brand got press, we had a couple red carpet appearances, we did photo shoots, and stylists pulled our eye wear for a few online mags.
Back in August, we went back home and told our parents “we’re moving to NYC in 2 weeks”. We were nervous about quitting our regular job but it was time to take the risk and just have 100 percent focus on our brand. We’re young and moving to NYC (last minute) to pursue our dream was a big step. But we’d rather struggle and work hard on our brand in NYC, than live easy in non-fashion state.
4. Can you elaborate on the message behind Coco & Breezy?
We have a special bond that no one else has, which we believe gives us an advantage for being a great design team. Just being twins, we have never been separated from each other for more than 24hours. Also something that makes us different from other designers is that we are models for our line as well. We definitely known for our different, edgy and unique look and we are never seen in public without rocking shades.
4. Describe your inspiration(s).
Inspirations… wow where do we start. We love getting inspired and we take everything in and make it into art. What inspired us to design an eye wear line, had a lot to do with our personal life. Different metals, studs, spikes, chains, shapes, sculptures and the glam rock style is our inspiration for our current collection. Also the biggest inspiration is the futuristic look, with some of our “stud star trek’ designs. You feel like your living in year 2020.
5. You already have celebs like Ashanti, Vanessa Simmons, and Kelly Osbourne rocking your shades? How did that come about?
Well with Ashanti wearing our glasses, it was really last minute and we didn’t plan for her to wear them. It’s funny because, we were contacting different stylist that we met during our visit just to inform them that we were back to NYC for good. And that same day someone contacted us and asked if they could pull a couple styles for Ashanti for the red carpet VH1 hip hop honors. And we were like “sure.’ It was cool because we got a lot of press from it, and was our first major celeb press.
6. Who is the ideal ‘Coco & Breezy’ customer?
They are unisex for men & women. An ideal ‘Coco & Breezy’ customer is somebody that is not scared to step out the box and have the confidence to rock the glasses. If there is 100 people in the room, they are going to be the ones standing out, and will always be remembered.
7. Where do you ladies see yourself in the future?For more info on Coco and Breezy, make sure you check out their official blog and add them on twitter. Also make sure to check out their online shop (link is located below). Their shades come in various styles and are priced from $50-$125 dollars. Remember, you will be supporting hand made wear.
In the future we see our line expanding and doing clothes as well. I feel like right now how fashion is the younger generation is taking over, and our generation is going to be the next big names in fashion. Since we are starting at such a young age, we are going to remain dedicated and never get to comfortable at what people call “the top” there is no such thing as the top. We are going to grind and work hard so we can be young and successful. We also want to be an inspiration to younger kids showing you can do anything, it just takes hard work. This is only the beginning of our journey, there is a lot more to come.
