Q&A With Coco & Breezy!

          Yesterday, I had the pleasure of interviewing twin Eye Wear and Accessory Designers Coco & Breezy! This dynamic-duo are originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They came to NYC to celebrate their 19th birthday and while here they received so much attention for their shades. Coco and Breezy soon realized that in order to take their brand to the next level, they would have to make that move to New York. After only running their online business for 3 months the two decided to make the move to Brooklyn, New York. The ladies went back to Minnesota and quit their jobs, sold their car. With no money saved and no living arrangements in place the ladies were on their way to Brooklyn, New York.

          The initial inspiration for their sunglasses came from being teased as children. Coco & Breezy said  they would come home upset from school every day because they were being treated differently. They decided to wear glasses to hide their hurt so that nobody would be able to see their eyes ; which led to them designing their own glasses! This gave Coco and Breezy a way of disconnecting, and avoiding the stares they would get everyday.

            They are known for their unique style, edgy look, and fierce shades. Literally 2 weeks after moving to NY singer Ashanti placed an order for their glasses! That brought amazing press and right after that everything took off. Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Kelly Osbourne, Vanessa Simmons, Ciara, Trina, Diggy etc. have been seen wearing Coco and Breezy’s shades. These twins are on their grind!

            Although they did not set out to be eye wear designers these two are definitely ahead of their time. It’s edgy, different, and chic. They are definitely setting the trend, leaving all other sunglasses in the DUST!  They are making it okay to be edgy and confident. I love their story, I love their look, and I respect their work ethic. They are very disciplined. Did I mention that they were so down to earth? I showered them with compliments in the first few minutes of the interview and stated how excited I was for them.

My Interview With Coco & Breezy!

Q: How did this all start? How did the glasses line come about? –

A: We wore glasses before because people would stare at us all the time. We then decided to start designing our own shades. It was our way to block ourselves from the taunting. Also, we were just like well, if they’re going to stare at us then let’s give them something it stare at.When we were 19 we came out to New York on our birthday, 2 years ago. We wore our glasses every and anywhere. People started to come up to us asking ‘where can we buy those glasses?!’ We were like walking advertisements. We then thought h’m.. maybe we can do this. We went back to Minnesota, sold our car and quit our jobs. Breezy and I moved to Brooklyn with no money saved up and stayed by a friend of ours. We worked to take our brand to the next level.

Q: Ashanti wore your glasses, how did she hear about them and where did she get them?

A: It started off with us walking the streets of New York and people stopping us, and asking us about our glasses. We got stopped by Ashanti’s stylist who then asked us for our card. Ashanti ended up wearing our glasses the next day at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors.

Q: Is this a dream come true?

A: It is a dream come true, but at the same time there is so much more that we want to accomplish

Q: So many celebrities have worn your glasses or even one of your accessories, what celebrity touched you the most when they wore them?

A: Lady Gaga!! We did these glasses when we collaborated with this French designer. It was crazy, she wore our glasses in her video, it was unbelievable. Also, another person would be Ciara. Anyone that knows me and Breezy knows that we LOVED Ciara when we were younger. We used to call ourselves the Ciara twins! There was a concert we were supposed to go to during Fashion Week but we were so tired from our show that we didn’t go. That night we got so many texts and calls from our friends saying ‘Omg, Ciara is wearing your glasses at the concert!!’ I was like ‘Omg I wish I was there!!.’ But yes, that touched us so much.

Q: Tell me about the Rainy Days Collection-

A: We wanted not only a great look, but great quality.That’s what we loved about this collection! The glasses are so artistic but also have good quality.The reason why we called the collection Rainy Days was because when we were younger we wore shades to hide our tears.

Q:Have any of the people that bullied you guys back in the day reached out?–

A: There were a few that reached out to us. At the end of the day, Breezy and I have open minds. We really don’t dwell on that. We know we are beyond those people. We are showing them an example of how you can turn something small into something big.

Q: Do you girls cook?-

A: We LOVE to cook!! Breezy is making food now. She’s making tofurkey. We are vegetarians, we only eat fish and vegetables. I feel like taking care of our bodies help us be more creative. It helps us to be better entrepreneurs!

Q: Do you guys always agree on which direction you’re going in with your projects? What is the creative process usually like?

A: Usually Breezy will start the project and I’ll finish it. It’s cool that we have two brains to work on one project, you know? 

Q: How long does it take you two to create something?

A: There is like no average, it really just depends on what it is. Plus, now that I think about it.. an artist never shares how long it takes for them to create something. If I can’t think of something I’ll go take a walk around the city or go to sleep. We always have to take little breaks in between and then eventually come back to it. We don’t want to stress our brains out to the point where the creativity is lost.

Q: Is it harder to create/ have you lost your passion because there is so much of  a demand for your glasses?

A: We haven’t really lost our passion! When you first start you have such a different motivation.Now we’re  at that point where we’re still up and coming but we’re on that level where we can move up a little because we’re not going to be like those up and coming girls. There’s no pressure but it’s more so like we need to continue for our supporters. We are still motivated but we just have to expand our minds so that we can expand our business. My family really is my motivation.

Q: On your down time when you really just want to get away from the demands of it, what do you ladies do or where do you go? 

A: We go to Minnesota or we’ll go to visit our dad in Texas, cook, or just hang out with our friends and just cook.. you know, and just like CHILL! Haha. We don’t have that much down time because we’re still trying to work extra hard everyday. But we love eating!! 

Q: You guys are friends with Ty Hunter? Love him! He follows me on Twitter & I met him at fashion week and he was so nice. As Beyonce’s stylist he has definitely influenced my personal style. Tell me a little bit about your friendship!

A: We love Ty. He’s so humble and he’s just so awesome. He treats us like his little sisters. Never really mentions Beyonce so you totally forget that he’s Beyonce’s stylist! Ty is just so nice. He is so supportive of us. 

Q: Beyonce also wore one of your bracelets! I know you ladies were happy!

A: We knew Ty for a long time before that even happened! The thing is that he didn’t put our bracelet on her. He had a whole table full of accessories and he told her to pick something out. She picked out our bracelet. He told her afterwards about Breezy and I.

Q: How are you girls transitioning from Minnesota to Brooklyn? –

A: I love New York! I feel like we’re at home. It feels like it’s our first home.

Q: Random question lol, but do you and Breezy party?

A:  Not really! You know what’s crazy? Me and Breezy don’t even party at all hardly. We are such grandmas. We love to invite friends over for dinner, that’s like our party!

Q: Do you and Breezy have any other siblings? 

A: We have an older half brother who isn’t into fashion at all. We try to teach him little things sometimes but he’s not into fashion.

Q: Did you and Breezy go to school to study fashion? If not, is it something that you would like to do in the future?

A: In terms of fashion design, we feel like school helps you figure out where you would like to be in the fashion world and of course it helps you with your technique. But I think we have kind of learned that through trial and error ourselves. But we would take business classes for sure.

Q: Tell us what you have in the works? What are a few of your upcoming projects?

A: We have a collaboration coming out in June with brand called Spray Ground. They make awesome crazy crafty bags! So, we’re coming out with a set of bags. We’re excited about that and it’s a women’s backpack! It’s going to be like an x-ray version of what you would see in a women’s bag. So, it’s going to be an x-ray of what would be in Coco and Breezy’s bag! We also have a sunglass case that holds 2 pairs of sunglasses. We’ll also be going to the Cayman Islands to show our collection next month. We are also coming out with jackets which will be out by the end of the month. They will be adorned with spikes and studs, etc. We took it to the next level but you can still tell it’s Coco & Breezy.

Q: Omg, that sounds so cool! I’m so excited for that. Will it be sold online or in stores?

A: You’ll be able to get it both online and in stores! 

Sadly, my time with Coco and Breezy is up!

Thank you ladies for skipping your morning run and taking the time out to speak to me.

These ladies were such a joy to chat with, and they were SO down to earth.

Go get a pair of shades from their fabulous collection at www.cocoandbreezy.com.

You can also check out their Tumblr — https://cocoandbreezy.tumblr.com/

Twitter  — Twitter.com/Cocoandbreezy