Greedmont Park

Typical Byronic Heroes : Coco&Breezy Interview

Saturday, April 17, 2010 by Team Greedmont | 4 Comments; | Category: Art, Fashion

Their sunglasses are dark, brooding, chain-embellished, and stud casted; these shades are made for the typical and iconic byronic hero. You have a strong distaste for social institutions or you ever feel as though you are a rebel without a cause? Buy a pair. Pretty jaded and not blinded by the flashing lights that prey? Buy a pair. Got a high level of confidence that some mistake for cockiness and a blood in my eyes, ice in my veins attitude/mentality to match? Buy a pair. These shades aren’t your typical piece of merchandise or accessory. They are couture. While many in the accessory business get their merchandise made in sweatshops or factories across the Atlantic, with Coco&Breezy sunglasses you get what Corianna and Brianna (a.k.a. Coco&Breezy) have hand picked and made, fresh from their apartment in New York to you. No middle man.

And to all who have falsely accused the girls of getting their designs from the well-known sunglasses brand Mercura, let’s cut the bullshit. The girls are from middle of now-where Minnesota, “We can’t copy them because we never knew about them. I’m from Minnesota, growing up I knew about my fashion, but not about anyone else,” Corianna scoffed at the accusations, “Mercura is tailored to older women, we’re the new generation.” When they are in the designing mood or when they know that they have a big project coming up, the girls purge themselves of everything that might inspire, so that the finished project comes purely from their souls. “When you see something it is stuck in your mind visually and you don’t want to accidentally recreate it,” they told me when I asked about the thought process that goes with the brand.

The thing about Coco&Breezy is that you have to admit that behind the brand is pure genius. Before the brand came out sunglasses were just an accessory and the only thing that made a pair stand from amongst the others was the brand that made them. If either Chanel, Louis, or Marc Jacobs were stamped on the side of your shades then you were officially in vogue, there was no artwork or creativity that went into it. With Coco&Breezy you can tell that the shades are theirs simply by looking at the shape, studs, chains, and lens of the frame. Just like Gucci is known for their patented colorway, Louis Vuitton is know for the mesmerizing LV’s, and Chanel is known for the intersecting C’s, so is Coco&Breezy known for their heavy metal designs.

The girls have pretty humble beginnings that really don’t match the grandeur of their success. They have backgrounds as dancers. It’s something that they were and still are pretty passionate about, but had to put aside so that they could focus more on designing. At one point they tried to do both, but the stress was too great and both designing and dancing are time-consuming. When the girls moved to New York, they came with the mind-set that designing would be their number one priority. When they first made the move, no one knew about them and they went for two whole weeks without selling a thing, fast-forward to today and everyone knows about the girls, their shades are so in demand, and it’s not at all surprising to see people wearing fakes.

Along with the success has also come a very busy lifestyle. The girls are always working and rarely have time to themselves. “We don’t get to live the young life, but I’m not complaining.I cannot name a time when I am not working,” Corianna told me. What few know about the girls is that they were home-schooled and graduated very early. Once they graduated they delved into their designing so they really never got to live the young life. I speculated that there had to be some sort of animosity, which eventually leads to pain, towards the lack of childhood and wonders in their life. When asked if they were inspired by pain and if that was one of the reasons behind their chain and stud heavy designs they said no, “Sunglasses are dark and we like studs, but pain doesn’t inspire us, we stay positive.”

Coco&Breezy are on the pathway to becoming a household brand. They plan on opening a few stores in New York and then branching out overseas to other stores, preferably Nordstrom. They also plan on starting a foundation for kids. “We did the all American dream and we want to let people know that they can do it too. If you believe in it, you can do your own.” The duo are coming out with limited edition Coco&Breezy shirts that will be served on a first come first serve basis and a new design will be made every two months. Their new collection 20/20 should be out in May. The name stems from the fact that the twins are turning twenty in May and from the fact that everything is coming into full focus for them,hence 20/20. The line will not only feature the trademark, avant garde shades but they also plan on including necklaces, and bracelets in the collection.

And all those rumors going around that the reason why the twins are always wearing their sunglasses is because they’re cross-eyed: they’re not true. “We hate it when people ask us to take off our sunglasses,” they tell me laughing, “We are known for them, they are our trademark. Our motto is: ‘let’s give them something to stare at’.”

-Rose Bellefleur