Chatting with CoCo Part 1: Style Maven

If I had 3 words to describe CoCo (a.k.a. Nicole Austin) they would be Hard Working, Sweet and Stylish. I don't have the same style aesthetic as CoCo but what I do LOVE is her confidence and boldness in her personal style choices. She knows what she likes, ignores trends, knows her body and she ROCK'S it on and off the red carpet. She is a fan of color and bold prints, the higher the heel the better and form fitting pieces.

Don't judge this bootylicious bombshell by her cover either as she is much more than what immediately meets the eye. She's an author of a soon to be released fictional novel, a hard working entrepreneur and designer for her clothing line (LICIOUS), a swimsuit model, Recording artist for her dance track SHOE FREAK, star of the HIT reality show "Ice Loves CoCo" on E!, Mommy to her fur-baby Spartacus, Wife to Rapper/Actor/Motivational Speaker and Original Gangsta Ice-T AND a public figure... WHEW! all that and in 4 inch heels!
I had the opportunity to have a very candid telephone chat with CoCo recently about Fashion, Style and much more. She is the REAL DEAL; funny, smart and kind.

This Style Maven has recently expanded her personal love for fashion into a business to dress the curvy girl with custom clothing from her recently launched line LICIOUS Her clothes are designed for the girl who is just like CoCo, Curvy, proud of her shape/curves and loves bold colors. They range in size up to 14 BUT the unique aspect of the line is they will CUSTOM MAKE any of the looks on the site for your body!! CoCo expressed "One good thing about my clothing line is that it is made for the Curvy Woman. Yes, it brings licious out in you. The clothes are very comfortable. It is all spandex and stretchy cotton. It just makes you feel comfortable and sexy. It goes up to size 14. But if you like anything like the pants or dress or whatever, you can take it off the site and we will custom make it to your body. If you are a size 22 that is cool, it still can go up but the size chart does not go past 14. Just get the right measurements and we can make it for you."　



LISA: What does the term LICIOUS mean to you?

COCO: "I actually made the word up as it is very girlie. If you are feeling licious that day I would walk around the house and tell my husband I’m so Licious right now. It became a word I said. Then it so funny that everything like booty-licious came out and Beyonce was singing something about licious…Dude like this is like MY word…like I made this word up a long time ago! so it became part of my line.
When you think of Licious you think of girly and Hot. You feel very fabulous it's Very empowering!!"



LISA: Do you design all the pieces? or do you work with a design team?

COCO: I design all the pieces. Really, this is how it happened. I have always had a hard time wearing jeans and leggings or whatever. I have to get a particular pair of jeans and pull in the waist. It is an ongoing thing since high school. Also I’m short so I always have to taper in the legs.I never have the perfect fitting jeans or pants. So I went to the people that actually make all my bikinis and custom make my clothes for my photo shoots. They already know my body to a tee so I said “Hey, why don’t you start making Jeans for me”? Matter of fact maybe I could start manufacturing them for other people to wear because they probably have the same problem as me. That idea went into…"so Coco, if you are going to have a little line you need to have swimsuits, because you are a bikini model" OK..what else do you want me to put in? You gotta have club outfits and gym clothes. So a little idea of me just wanting jeans expanded to a lot more than I expected.
Really, it is stuff that I want to wear and it is open to the public if you want to wear it too.



CoCo's love for fashion extends onto the red carpet with her husband of 10 years Ice-T. I asked CoCo if she styled all the red carpet looks for her and Ice? She said, "We have similar colors and taste for color. When I pick out my outfit Ice goes to his closet and picks out something that matches. It's just a last minute thing. He loves wearing BLACK it almost looks like the same outfit every time we go out. I encourage him to wear color."
I love seeing Ice and CoCo in the front row of fashion shows during New York Fashion Week. We also talked FASHION and I asked CoCo My Style Maven series questions:

LISA: Can you describe your personal Style aesthetic AND attitude
about fashion?

COCO: Fun, Flirty, Sexy, I like inspire people by what I wear. I kind of consider myself, even though I am not her, Lady Gaga. But in my own different level….I would say my own California girl beach level (LAUGHS).

LISA: What are the key components / pieces in your closet?

COCO: A big thick black belt;I always seem to go to that somehow. Like when I have a dress that just needs to be pulled in at the waist, I always grab that belt. It is about 4 inches wide and it pretty much goes with anything. I always grab that and of course for me I gotta have my heels!!! I actually will make an outfit out of the hells I want to wear. Usually it is vise-versa, you pick the outfit and then the shoes. If I have a cool new pair of heels I just got,I’m not keeping them sitting here in my closet. They need to work tonight somehow.

LISA: How do you feel about Vintage Clothing and Accessories?

COCO: I’m into doing my hair Vintage. I like the old school style …to incorporate the hair pieces and all that good stuff. Like the roaring 20’s. I wish we could bring that back.

LISA: What are your favorite Vintage pieces (Clothing and/or Accessories)? Do you only wear designer vintage?

COCO: I have got the first Gucci Belt. I got it at a Vintage shop in New York. It’s a gold chain belt to wear with jeans or whatever. It clips weird but I think its so old.

LISA: If you could give women 1 piece of STYLE advice, what would it be?

COCO: Pick out what your favourite body part is. Let’s say your legs; accentuate that. Maybe wear a mini turtleneck dress and show off those legs. Whatever you are proud about show it off and cover the rest. Your eyes will go to the part you want seen. If you have a small waist and want it more pronounced wear a black belt to show it off the waist and cover your legs up if you don’t want your thighs to be showing. Your eye has to go to the direction where you want it. Everything else should be downplayed, if you want your butt downplayed wear black pants (LAUGHS).

Check out some of CoCo's Looks ..(Click on Images to ENLARGE).









BRAVO COCO for your bold style choices, for following your instincts and not trends and being LICIOUS every day!!
STAY TUNED FOR CHATTING WITH COCO PART 2 ~ We talk SHOES, Have a look inside CoCo's Closet, and MORE!

Step into CoCo's world @ http://www.cocosworld.com/ Follow COCO on Twitter