HELLO DMV! It’s Miss CNH, also known as Princess from The Olivia Fox Show every Tuesday from 12pm-2pm EST on WLVS Radio.

#FF has been referred to as #FollowFriday on popular social media site Twitter. Now that I will be your source on fashion for OnStage, it gives me great pleasure to introduce a new #FF which now stands for #FashionFridays!

I’ve had the pleasure of attending one of the best “business of fashion” colleges in the world, LIM College. During my time there I was exposed to different styles and types of fashion from around the world.

While living in Brooklyn, New York I had the opportunity to meet two very strong minded and ambitious… TWINS!

When we first met, these girls were individually gluing each stud one by one carefully to make sure their sunglass products were perfect per customer order. Three years later, Coco&&Breezy Sunglasses are being mass produced and their customer base has grown tremendously and includes celebrities such as Beyonce, Ciara, Nicki Minaj, and many more! Although already known in the DC, MD and VA area, I want to formally introduce you all to Coco && Breezy, two sisters from Minnesota turned sunglass designer extraordinaire.

CoCo: Fashion to us is a meaning of expression… it isn’t just clothing… it is a way to express yourself without words. Just visuals.

Breezy: The last couple of months we have developed a new look.. we like to say we are more minimalistic which include simple layers, a lot of black and we have just recently shaved hair. We are originally known for crazy hair/ wild hair colors … but now its about less attention on our clothing and wild hair, and just focusing on the face, after all we are sunglass designers, so the face is the most important feature in our fashion.

CoCo: We were very young … our parents really helped develop our love for fashion. Our mom treated us like dolls when dressing us. Once we started developing our own sense of fashion, we began experimenting with clothing. For example, when we would have school pictures, Breezy and I would find a way to cut up our clothes or do something different to it to make a fashion statement. This was our way of coming into our own as well as being comfortable with expressing ourselves through what we wore. We were around the age of 12/13 when we discovered our love for designing.

CoCo: You never know how long it can take to construct and perfect a piece. We could come up with concept a year from now and use it 2 years later… We like to take our time.

(At this point both the twins and I became really involved in the interview to where I stopped knowing which twin was talking)

Which glasses make it to finalization, then which one will get a prototype… bringing the glasses to life from pencil and paper.

How Long Have You Been in the Game? 3 years!

What Are Some Of Your Accomplishments as a Designer Since You’ve Started? Being in NYC on our own and surviving off of the thing you love is one of the best feelings. We have also had the opportunity of flying to Paris to collaborate with other known successful fashion designers. We wouldn’t have some of these opportunities if we weren’t introduced to the right people. It feels good to know we have the right mentors now that help us learn more about the business aspect and that are really involved all around. Lastly, we can finally say our sunglasses are being mass-produced.

1. Jean-Charles De Castelbajac
2. Selima Salaun (eye wear designer / mentor) (collaborated with)
3. Alexander Wang

What Advice Do You Have for Aspiring Designers? Stay true to yourself. The business aspect is just as important as the creativity. Know your brand. Know how to market. Do not be afraid to live on the edge and take risk for your dream.

We love and live for eyewear. Because of this passion, we want to conquer the eyewear industry by staying on top of our game and continuing to be innovative. We would like to continue growing our product line and want to potentially get into other accessories once we are completely successful in the eyewear industry.

We listen to all genres of music when we design, from country to Old School R&B to Rock… there is never a set genre. It brings out emotions and helps us sketch. Some designs have been based off the emotions that the various genres brought out.

(End of Interview)

I would like to thank Coco && Breezy for allowing this exclusive one on one interview with them. This interview was personal because I’ve had the opportunity to watch these young women blossom and continue to develop into designer moguls.

You can find their products as well as reach them via Twitter.

DMV, I hope you enjoyed this first #FF Spotlight ! See you next week & make sure you follow me on twitter @MissCNH!

L O V E,
MISS.CNH

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