CRANBERRY TAKE ONE!

Our first Fashion show this year is going to be at Howard University...for the African Students Association. First of all, i must say that we don't usually do ASA fashion shows... nope...but we are doing HuAsa's spring show because we (joan and I) have to rep HU all day everyday(Go BISONSS!!!!!) And Its safe to say at least in the DC metro area we have the Hottest ASA Fashion show PERIOD *insert emoticon with cool sunglasses*....It is SIMPLY a fashion show....featuring designers, great models (who are picked through a model call) and a REAL runway. So if you love fashion, you are guaranteed a great professional show.


In my opinion, the ASA spring show last year was actually the best fashion show at Howard and that is quite a big deal because ANYONE who knows anything about HU knows that we don't play with fashion, there are roughly about five fashion MUST's every semester ... and i believe out of all of them our show definitely had the most diversity in terms of models, music , clothes and dance and OOPS we beat out the widely talked about HU homecoming fashion show ...TAKE THAT HOMECOMING SHOW HA!!!...*cough*....Anyway it was called S'RAA and joan was the model on the Flyer HAHA!...

We all contributed to the S'raa show, Joan obviously modelled while our dance team (OMOGE!!) performed and our designated makeup artist of course Ozzy was there to hook the dancers up ....Great!!....im including some pictures of S'raa.....*wisps of nostalgia ....sigh*...

Big ups to Ifueko of IDIA, she organized the show yay!...oh and the makeup was inspired by the "Egyptian" culture..so EXCUSE the models THICK A@$ eyebrows lol it was all part of the show!!

The HISTORY with Hu-ASA is dear to us which is why we decided to get into their line up. I predict its going to be so Fire, we honestly don't know the name of the show yet, but we went to pick our models on Monday last week and as we expected the models had it down with great walks and everything else.. in terms of looks?.... they had a LOT of variety...some tall, some of average height, varying sizes, but one common defect was that they were all suffering from banging BODIES....AH AH??....made me want to hit the gym for a second dang...anyway it wasn't hard looking for what we wanted, it was quite easy really...

I MUST say that it is SOO much fun picking models.....your inner bitchy diva just comes out..."No you"..."okay definitely not her"..."walk for me"..."bitch demand bitch demand"....OH JOY!!

(PROMOTION TIME!!!)

Anyone in the DC metro area should definitely Hit up cramton Auditorium on March 2nd 07(more info will be provided)....Cranberry is in the line up...You dont want to miss this....we put on a Hell of a show....FRESH!!

On an ending note...MAD shout out to AFRICA running things at Howard. FINALLY!!!....when i see these young Nigerians/ Nigerian American freshmen and African Americans as well DYING to join HU-ASA, i remember how BUSTED it was when i was a fresher in college, when NO ONE knew what the hell an ASA was, "umm ASA???....Ummm is that Alliance student Alliance?"....hmm...when we used to CHOP disrespect from other organizations, when we had NO dance team, please proceed to give props to Me, Joan and Cyn for That change. Now we have it all and two bison ball awards for best student organization....AND WHAT?

BELINDA

22 years of my life spent LIVING A LIE!!
I believed that THIS SONG was by a Nigerian Artist. I must say the 80s was awesome, so discooooo...so shiny...so UPBEAT!

Story is the musician "Grady Harrell"- "supposedly" married an African princess....yeah right...probably some African chic cashing in on coming to America...ha!...Thank you Eddie murphy for paving the way for many of my brothas and sistas seeking their PAPERS...dang i should have migrated earlier...

Anyway!....Love the song..and awww...he is such a Gentleman...yes Boo "cleaning up after you is NOT my job!"....Chivalry is dead today...dead and buried...and on a final note...Belinda's blue sparkly dress at the end is soo cute...love it!!...i miss micheal jackson!!!

The Front Row girl

The definition of a "front row girl" is very simple. She is the girl who people:

• want to know,


• already know

She doesn't wait on lines because she

• doesn't do long lines....please its not that serious..


• Owns the club


• Knows the owner

All around the world we see them, from the "front row girls" of new york city's finest i.e the girls who stroll into fashion shows knowing fully well that the show wont start without them..... to the "front row girls" of Lagos, who walk into the polo club at 4am knowing fully well that it will be opened up just for them.

Now there are the rude, extremely snobby and generally unpleasant "front row girls" who by default fall into this "category" because their sweet ol daddy happens to be as rich as Croesus....but No.... we frown on those ones....money doesn't cover up ugly...make it look somewhat better yes...but ugly will always be ugly.....

A real front row girl is genuinely NICE....emphasis on the word "genuine".......she is ABOVE bitchiness, hate and gossip.....yes.. she is prone to "dislike" people.....she IS human after all....but that emotion is reserved solely for "people who hate her for No apparent reason ", fake people and people who are looking to use her to further themselves....


A front row girl surrounds herself with positive people....neutral people who avoid confrontation and drama...and understand that life is sweeter when you live it well....and by well i mean knowing thyself and respecting thyself and being above stupid insecurities....


A front row girl doesn't want to be among, or feel among, or act in a certain way because she is dying to be the center of attention...rather...she strives for the opposite...she is unique and mysterious...and would also like to keep it that way... unfortunately people are prone to imitating a front row girl...but hey! everyone knows that imitation is the best form of flattery!...


A front row girl is always noticed...even when she is trying to be incognito....you can take the girl out of Hollywood but you cant take holl......

Lastly and most importantly, a front row girl has supreme confidence....this does not mean she is arrogant or lofty....she loves herself and what differentiates her from others is that she doesn't step on other people to feel good about herself......she might not be the prettiest, richest or the most talented girl...but she is the shit simply because she believes it.....

A cranberry girl is a front row girl.....she is confident, unique and always in charge....best believe it!....are you a front row girl?

We compiled a list of ladies we feel are front row girls....some are not featured..(out of sheer laziness and impatience) but in general cranberry love love loveS these ladies!

Meet today's ...

Ms beyonce is our only and ultimate celeb frg...yes she is HATED by most lol...but on the flip side she is also loved....Ms beyonce has undeniably swept the music world by storm and we respect her talent and her hard work...anyone who has been to a concert of hers knows that she gives a 110% in her performances.....with all that she is YET to shock me with bad behavior...she stays constantly on the respectful and that is commendable....and despite the awesome beef against her, she is yet to waste her time replying haters.....so go on Ms Beyonce....we love ya!!

We love Nkechi and Nkem Odum because they are awesome girls....not only are they smart and friendly, they also stay looking gorgeous ....with their unique style and confidence they are definitely front row girls...

Michelle, Ashi & Jugo ...extremely stylish and Very...and i mean extremely smart....we love them because they embody both beauty and brains....yup definitely FRG!

Ebun Oduwole - Fashion designer(Dezhare) and fashion enthusiast....she is tres stylish, witty and the definition of cool - she stays down to earth and we love her for that....FRG extraordinaire...

Ruki - Fashion designer(rukkyfrocks) - she is soo unique and we love her for that!...witty, funny and charming....ruki is soo FRG!

Niki - She is an awesome girl with a great spirit....She is very gorgeous with a marilyn monroesque sexy style - she also is funny, warm and very confident...we love her!...go FRG!

Bola and Nosa have been Best Friends since forever.....they are fabulous girls....smart, gorgeous and great DANCERS....we love their energy and confidence....and we also know them as NEW YORK!!!....always and 4eva FRG!

We love manika bcos she stays FLY period!!!!!....check her out on "sweet-mystique.
blogspot.com"

Aghogho - is the soul behind "soul boutique" she creates the most awesome teeshirts ...you gotta luv em!!....not only is she stylish and original ...she is also into photography and can sing the SOCKS OF YOU!!...jack of all trades...Ms Aghogho is going places....we love her cus she is FRG thru and thru!...check out her stuff on www.myspace.com/aghoghosowho

Stylish and sasssy....we loves us some Ngozi....she stays fly and we know this!!...Frg!

Ciara and Twana - These ladies define the word fab...we love love love them!!...FRG!

Finally we end this list with our token Front row guy ....Uzoma!!!!...he is so so stylish and we love him!!...Muah***

much love from cranberry!...FRG for life!wink*

WHY BOTHER?

Why does Cranberry even exist at all?

Do we believe that we are some Messiahs sent to save the the dying world of fashion?? Hardly. I dont think that I am at the pinnacle of all that is fashion. I dont know the right fashion "words" or terminology and my knowlege of other designers is limited to most of the popular ones and a few of the unknowns. I have some friends that can dictate the world of fashion inside out..they really know their stuff. Isnt that what ure meant to do when ure tryin to hone a craft? like any good lawyer or banker or doctor...know ur craft inside out?? I don't know how to do that cool fashion 'talk' that so many have mastered. But is it about who talks the talk or who walks the walk? hm.

Why now? when it is suddenly like the newest thing since gettin a college degree for Nigerians. It suddenly follows that every Nigerian guy has some kind of musical talent, and every Nigerian girl is the dictator of everything fashionable. Are we too just following what has become a trend? Will i wake up one day and lose interest in Cranberry and move on with my life while it just fades quietly into the background? 2005/2006 brought the rise of a lot of new talent..some undeniable...some VERY skeptical...some are obviously passionate about it..some are obviously "sheep"...so which am i? which are WE? I have walked in fashion shows of clothing lines that dont seem to exist anymore. Truly its annoying when u do something cos you love it..and yet u seem discredited cos hey...everyones doing it!!

I find it tiring everytime i hear someone else has a clothing line. Yet im a hypocrite cos im sure out there someone was tired when they heard about Cranberry. What makes it stand out..what makes it DIFFERENT?? What makes us more passionate than the next person?? What gives us our edge over him/her?? Sometimes i see others lines..and im not very impressed by it, i see others...and im blown away and a lil jealous... but its only natural..one mans meat aye? Truthfully... I dont see myself as a "Nigerian" designer (not to say there is anything wrong with being so)...i just want to be a designer! I'm not competing with other Nigerian designers....my clothes are for everyone. Ive never been attracted to any kind of ankara or woodin fabric in my life. Maybe i just havent seen what has wow-ed me yet!!!

But then i think to myself... do we have what it takes to become designers? Its one thing to have fresh and brilliant ideas...its another to be able to reproduce them...but theres so much more involved than that! There is the business side to it.. getting sponsors, funding, marketting, public relations!! Making the "right" contacts in the fashion world..truly a lot of ass kissing involved in climbing up the ladder. Now...what ure lookin at is 3 very lazy girls, who are wayy to rude and bitchy to kiss anyones ass..and probably too lazy to hussle like thats where our next meal is coming from. But then i think to myself..when it comes to Cranberry we've been alarmingly on point and proffessional. But howw? how do we do all these things? How do 3 Nigerian non american citizen girls achieve this glamorous dream that we have set for ourselves? DId i forget to metion DC and philadelphia based? Arent Newyork, London, Paris, Italy the meccas of fashion?

Designers dont become successful overnight. It takes a longgggggggggg time to make your mark on the fashion world... It is a long and disheartening journey and if its something u dont have a strong passion for, its very easy to let go. I watched the documentary on the award that Vogue gives to already working and aspiring designers. It really took you into a whole world of all these newyork based designers, who had been designin for YEARS and who even have some celebrity clients...yet...were barely making ends meet and still were not even known. It was so DAUNTING...do we have that kind of passion and spirit?? to be doing this 10 years from now with still no miraculous results??? All the greats are over the age of 60 and that in itself shud tell u something. Marc Jacobs is always respected for being such a "young" successful desginer. Dude is clockin 40. sigh.

Sometimes i hate Cranberry. I hate that i love it so much and i hate that its somethin that is within my reach yet seems so difficult to grasp. I hate that ive teased myself with my dream, and the realization that it may never be fulfilled. Sometimes its not better to have loved and lost. Maybe i would be satisfied if i didnt have the knowledge that i could DO this. WE can DO this!

I guess I'll see where this journey takes us....maybe sometime in the future ull see us in a magazine and see us on style.com... or maybe ull try to come to this blogspot and get an ERROR code..lol...Maybe ill give u ur medicine at CVS, or maybe ill put ur kids in braces..maybe ill replace ur face...maybe ill become some back door designer to a popular clothing line..maybe ill become a stylist. WHO KNOWS? Unblur my future!!!!! i know there are a lot of people waiting for us to fail so they can roll their eyes and think...yeah..just another one of those attention seekers who started a clothing line...(BELIEVE ME...we dont leave negative comments on the blogs..but we do get the occasional 1 or 2...or 7!!!!!) and a lot of people who think this isnt goin anywhere...to be very cliche...yeah they are somewhat 60% of my motivation. But at the end of the day... "we'll see!!"

Catherine Holstein

I am the shy one...okay not really since I am the one always showing my face on the internet or strutting down the runway in our designs..People are always sorta confused when it comes to the three of us..at one point people actually started calling us triplets...i guess we've spent so much time together that we have started to look alike... so I guess it is fair that I should introduce us as individuals even though yeah we are a unit...

Doreen- She is the oldest and my sister...she likes to think of herself as a photographer..believes that no one else can take pictures like her..we all know that that isnt true but we are like watever...let her humor herself...ok its a lie...as an amateur photographer (being that she has never taken any classes) she does a good job..

Oseyi- My oseyi...we've known each other since high school...and I can't believe she came to America..I thought she was going to go to some school in England..neway..she is the one that does most of the makeup during the shoots...

ok..any better? I thought not...I'm terrible at bloggin...I leave that to the other 2 parts of cranberry...I will be praying for u guys to understand this incoherent mess I am trying to push across...and before u say anything I apologise for my actions.....

Yeah so I am obsessed..wait..there's no I in team abi? ok..WE are obsessed with teenVOGUE....yeah we have all the issues of teenvogue and I mean all...I used to be a broke student(I mean I'm still broke) but I still have to have a copy of teenvogue lying in my house...ok so I dont suscribe to the magazine...I am bad with commitments....which is why I dont understand the relationship with cranberry...it is the longest most fulfilling relationship I have ever had....sure we have had our ups and downs..sometimes I only have to think of the color of cranberry and I get all frustrated but other times it makes me blush....*sigh.*.....Anywayyy....back to teenvogue...was reading it some day and came across this absolutely fab chica that I am SO GREEENNNN for...like I dont understand why some ppl have it better than others....yeah her name is Catherine Holstein....she went to Parsons and is like wat 22 and ppl like mischa barton have already started wearing her clothes...like ARRRRRGGGHHHHHHH...wat do we have to do to get to where she is???????neway I am including a page from teenvogue about her wonderful road to success...yeah i read it and wept already...

mischa in catherine holstein

OKay like this chica has been featured in the mag like 2ce....thats a big deal for someone just coming up..i love her clothes ( at least the few ones Ive seen to date) and yes I am pretty jealous of her...its only natural....neway...i followed her advice and we got the book that she was talking about..the fashion designer survival guide and it just got in today!!!YAYYY!!!!totally excited ..cant wait to read it to see if it will actually help us or if it is just a book for ppl with connections to the fashion world...hmmmm..oh well....theres no harm in trying is there now?

The disaster that was

As we go through life, evolving from a child to adulthood, mistakes are expected to be made. It has been drummed into us from time that it is all a part of the learning and "maturing process". Surely, this provides minimal comfort, especially if you're caught in the thick of making one of said mistakes yourself. But in hindsight, they can be drawn on as experiences from your past and sometimes the whole situation seems hilarious.

I had my first "bad" Cranberry experience sometime last year. I say MY first because i believe that i bore the brunt of the "blame" simply based on the fact that the customer at the time was brought by me and mostly dealt with me and not with my other 2 cohorts. (Another reason why i stressssss the fact that we are one entity lol). Sit tight y'all...this might be a long one..

So it started out simply enough... I love this lady. I think her and the rest of her family are truly beautiful and fabulous people. She is one of my older sisters best friends, and im friendly with her and most of the other ladies in her family.
When i realised that our very first Cranberry show in June 2006 was in DC, naturally I invited her to view our collection not really believing that she would show up, but to my surprise she did, and she LOVED it. The next day she immediately sent me a text saying that she absolutely loved our collection (call me a LOSER but i might still have that text..there is nothing like seeing someone compliment something that you are so proud of and worked so hard on) and that she wanted a dress for her upcoming 25th birthday. Now i was brimming with excitement, and immediately called my partners on the phone, and gloried in our"props" lol.

Remember that at this point, we had just made our freshman collection with NO previous sewing experience and ALL the clothes were sewn via needle and thread. We had no idea how to use patterns or any real sewing techniques...we just went with instinct. As you might have guessed about 3 or so good materials were ruined and assaulted before we even became more comfortable in our skin as 'tailors'. The clothes looked good on runway, were awesome in pictures..but only we knew the real behind the scenes rips and tears, and orange thread balancing on a green outfit (hey....we're poor kids here..working on a budget!!!).

Be that as it may, i excitedly texted her back my thanks and after confirming with the girls, said that we would love to make her a birthday dress. We had previously turned down so many requests to purchase dresses from us simply because we didn't feel that they should be unleashed as wild and untamed as the sewing was, but yeah..this chick could rock our shit!! What was she thinking entrusting US, designers of about 3 weeks, to make her birthday dress???? No idea!!! But we were flattered and we even offered to do it pro bono, after all she was our first official costumer, all she had to do was pay for the fabric. So she promised to send me pictures of the dress she like liked from the collection. She sent these 2 dresses:

Actually, at first she wanted the black dress, but then when she considered the fact that she was a bit "boob-y"...she opted for the flowing chiffon.
So we were pumped, another exciting new project to get us motivated, although her birthday was in december, and she was moving back to lagos in August, so we had a couple of months to make it. Even better! we make dresses in a day or less (well now that we have a sewing machine....back in the day maybe it took about 2 days). Now one thing we knew for sure .... we weren't making this dress by needle and thread. Not anythin that anyone intended to wear and have it stay together the whole night...and we believe in quality. Luckily Juliet had just bought a new sewing machine.

First...fabric of choice? So sweet lady had decided that she was going to go with the flowy long dress...she was having a garden party by the pool, so it went with the whole Island breeze theme..plus she really wanted to find a way to rock flip flops, and a long dress was the perfect ruse for that. Now to choose the color. She first thought she might have a pink and silver theme...the silver was a bit iffy...but pink was a definite contender, so we went with that. So we went to our ever trust worthy fabric row in Philly to look for any options. We thought we were NEVER goin to find anything..it just seemed so hard..and then finally we found the perfect pink fabric....it changed in color intensity from a very baby pink to a very dark pink and it was love at first sight for us. We thought perfect! Now the price on the other hand...not so perfect. We recognise qaulity and it seems we are naturally drawn to it..cos that material as it turns out was 100% silk...yikes! it was a long flowy dress, and she is pretty tall..so that equaled a LOT of fabric.. and this fabric cost almost 50 dollars a pop! or i shud say per yard hehee... But we were regulars there, and in America i must say it DOES help to be pretty girls..and the permed hair greased up guy gave us 4 yards for $100..and some cake (it was his birthday lol)!!

It still wasn't enough fabric by any stretch of imagination...and imagination we had in stretches. But we figured we could still make it work, and at that point we were inspired by project runway...fabrics could be mixed!! So we showed her the first fabric..she lo-lo-loved it...we couldnt agree on the color of the middle sash though. Silver just wasnt goin to work...she wanted a grape-y color but we were set against it (Hey! i know its her dress but we have to be happy with our designs too right?). So we put the dress on hold and went for our summerly dose of a fabulous weekend in NY, including hotel in manhattan and getting into premiere clubs. By all means depressing ourselves with a taste of the lifestyle and the city we want soooo badly we can almost taste it!

And then we found fabric row in NY...located somewhere a couple of streets down from the Parsons' new school of design..it was like being in heaven. Vast array of fabrics of all colors, textures, patterns...i never swipe my card so freely before. We weren't even 5 minutes before we found all that we were looking for. Again, we got our usual discount at the counter lol (after the old geezer flirting with us asked us if we were students at Parsons and immediately we claimed it (AMEN!!) and we got the parsons student discount LOL). Now we were really excited. We had run off with a whole new theme for the dress. It still had the same basic concept but we started to think out of the box. I mean we REALLY wanted this dress to embody fabulousity. We had a vision of shades of pink and a slight purple swirling out of band in a vision of light silk materials...falling regally to the groud in about 4 or so layers of slighty alternating fabrics ...ooh it was gonna be so HOT!!! we couldnt wait to transform our vision into a reality. We were more than ready to go!!!!

Now, the challenge of the sewing machine. I still remember that night so clearly at the back of my mind. Doreen could barely keep her eyes open lol...Joan and I were tryin to DECODE the instruction manual (that thing could NOT have been english). It took us literally about 2 hours to figure out how to thread the sewing machine, and another 2 firgure out what the deal is with that BOTTOM BIT!!! We three pored over pattern books...we were covering all the bases...we wanted to get this right!! I still remember how hesitant we were to cut the fabric lol..noone wanted to ruin it! and we were tryin to use every inch of fabric we could..there was no room for waste. We had NO idea..aside from the fact that we had zero idea how to handle silk as it was our first time workin with that LIGHT a fabric, we didnt even know then the there were different needles for different fabrics on a sewing machine..and a needle that might sew cotton, might punch HOLES in silk. So we trudged on, soldiers that we were, ignorant but A+ for determination, and it went quite well!...for the halter top. We had no problem making that (expect feverishly praying that it would hold her boobies) but then it got to the BOTTOM i.e. the skirt.

We had about 5 materials that were supposed to come out in layers...we had no idea how to do it lol...hey...I'm not a tailor.. We were all just learning. By this point we had grown to LOATHE the sight of the material and the problem it presented to us..being so difficult to maneuver... and being so light it was easily frayed. Anyway we did what we could..it just felt and looked like a semi disaster. By this point I was highly resentful of the fact that I was the only one having to speak to her all the time and I was probably goin to have to explain to her why her dress looked like it had been run over by a very HUGE tanker and dragged through a shredder for about 15 minutes. Noone likes to shoulder blame, but i do accept responsibility for my actions.

The first time she came to see it.. my heart was in my throat..i think i was actually perspiring. My hope was that she could see past the er...sewing..to appreciate the vision of what could be. (Hell i wished she'd take the fabric and take it to a tailor in NIGERIA to sew the damn design) I also wanted her to come alone and without the judgemental eyes of her siblings and friends lol. I dont even remember what her reaction was like now...they say we are too hard on ourselves and i swear all i remember thinking was that the dress looked like total and complete shit. but the boobies were her size!!!! Still all hope wasnt lost and we were far from completed...surely we could still salvage our dream dress??? (really the dress became more about us than her) Eventually...we DID "salvage" the dress....but i knew it still wasnt up to par and i felt dread giving anyone that dress to be labelled as 'cranberry'. But she was sweet about the whole thing..she seemed to not HATE it..infact she almost liked it. But she and i both knew that she was never going to wear it. Infact being the great Paroo that i am I had visions of when they got home and actually unleashed their REAL comments.

All i know is we breathed a SIGH of RELIEF to have that dress taken off our hands and that responsibility off our shoulders. THAT really told me that I wasnt ready to make clothes for anyone yet. This was about August 2006. The months following that, we easily got the swing of the sewing machine, and often we would look back with regret like damn we wish we had that dress again..it would be a whole different ball game!! Infact we got so good at sewing that sometimes hours before an outing we (JOAN mostly lol) would make an outfit impromptu.

So fast forward to december..time for the yearly migration to Lagos for christmas holiday. On my first day back my sister asked me to accompany her to sweet lady's house. There was actually a photo shoot for Haute magazine (which im a writer for and desperately avoiding my editor in chief cos i owe some articles LOL) going on there being shot by Jide Alakija, and she was meant to "assist" him apparently. I thought it would be very interesting so i was very willing to accompany her. The first words I heard when i walked in there was "Come and see my birthdayyyy dresss!!!" (A dress that was obviously not ours lol)

*akward*

but not really. So she laughed and said Oseyi come and see my BIRTHDAY dress and stressed it for emphasis and i too burst out laughing. And then we talked about it...mostly with her sister who had a "bone" to pick with me about the current state of her sisters dress. I was silently cursing the free ones who were not subject to the scrutiny and good natured teasing, as i was all the while cringing inside. But it was all good in the end though and i made them understand that if this was now we wouldnt be havin this conversation. We also had a very interesting "talk". And i guess they didnt lose faith in us, cause their cousin has been bugging me for a dress!! I kept having to remind them to include Joan and Doreen in the blame too! lol..

All in all...it was a fantastic learning experience...oh and her birthday was just fahhhbulous...the decor was off the hook and everyone looked so classy..

STYLE VS FASHION CHPT 1

OzzyBOOM! A for effort!.....you did well m'dear...how many minutes did it take to upload a picture???...ha!! I KEED I KEED!...yes i love to crack on nija internet...Anywayz!! 4give me blogspot for my err, its been a week and some days since my last blog...and these are the reasons why:

• Working on my first dress...which is done!(first time ive used more than a day to finish a dress yay!!)
• My wonderful cousin and aunt leaving for england and Nigeria respectively:(
• And lastly and most importantly having ABSolutely nothing to blog about :)!

AnywayZ I was on a celeb blog today and apparently Posh SPICE aka Vicky Beckham is reportedly moving to Hollywood...Hmm...that lady gets me thinking about style and fashion...If anyone else is a serial celeb blog addict*blush* they would notice that whenever Mrs beckham's skinny butt is featured she is all decked out in some chic ALL black ensemble ...with that poker "im soo chic, im soo sooo chic" expression on her face (yes i have issues with her lol)...But it just seems so "contrived"...Several of my London based friends Swear she is "THE" Fashion Budha...but i can't see it....undoubtedly she has money to buy nice clothes but really that is all....its easy to be soo chic when you can point at a new trend and have it delivered to you doorstep (damn rich people!)......its just like this new obsession many england girls have with nicole ritche and that scary looking Rachel Zoe.....please we should all take a minute to remember nicole's ROCKY past...

*minute*

Anywayz to answer the question, "Are vicky and nicole stylish?", i say... I think not!....they are into "fashion".....they dress according to new trends and whatever their favourite designer brings out that season...and of cus... whatever their stylist suggests.....they dont inspire, rather they follow....they worship the fashion budha...But it still works for them...so ill just keep talking to a wall.

Rachel Zoe and Nicole Ritchie (they've parted ways now..)

Vicks Beckham

who i believe is stylish amongst the celeb circle is Chloe sevigny and kate moss and formerly Sienna miller ...but i think she has gone WAYYYY overboard right now with her whole stylish personal..sometimes its just plain ugly what THAT lady wears sheesh!...wait hol up! hol up! lol i almost forgot the Queen Bee herself...CARRIE BRADSHAW...Sarah J Parker is aight...but Carrie was KILLAH!!!...patricia her stylist was sick sick sick!...please i have to give the chic hand...abeg SHE DEY!!!..

Chloe.

Kate Moss

Carrie!

I like sooo totalllyy dig the adage, "fashion changes but style lasts forever"....because that is soooo true...i always say trends pass so darn quick!...to prevent throwing away clothes every season be aware of what "works" for you and your body shape....for instance Skinny jeans is abused by some people....i've seen what appears to be skinny jeans looking like damn leggings......if your skinny jeans are so TIGHT that you have a prominent camel toe...please be kind to your neighbours who are unsucessfully trying to avoid looking at your crotch and get a size larger...just because its called skinny jeans doesnt mean it has to cut off the blood circulation in your legs.

Cinch belts are also the sickening trend right now(been in since 04)...I lurrrveee those belts but frankly i cant even wear one again without feeling like a clone...ITS TOO MUCH!...i believe i gave it up when i saw some freshman girl in Philly(school and girl unnamed so Ozzy doesnt get bitch slapped on her first day of school) wear it on a half length dress shirt underneath a pair of suspenders..???????....it was then i knew it had fallen into the wrong hands....please wear it well...on a pretty dress ...a business shirt... a turtle neck sweater.....there are many chic ways to wear it...but please NEVER on a half top...or a frilly club top ..or on top of a corset>??...i mean the purpose of the corset is to cinch...why add another cinch(er)?.....

AnywayZ ill be back with some more style tips...right now i'm off to finish up my second dress! YAY!.

CRANBERRY 101

Ozzy:
Hey world! sorry ive been M.I.A but not only did i have an eye infection from my contacts in this dusty harmattan weather (not a good look at ALL) but apparently my keyboard stopped "working".. 2 more days and im out of Lagos...its only been about 2 and a half weeks but i feel like ive been here for EVER!! Already have plans to go fabric shopping with the girls on friday in Newyork..and i cant hardly wait...i'm so excited about our sophomore collection!!! We always said years ago that Summer 2006 will be the beginning of the then unnamed clothing line...and i must say the journey has been quite exciting. The early creations were sort of "testing the waters"..but now we definitely know what we want in terms of our designs, fabrics we like to work with, where to find the fabrics at REASONABLE prices, heck we even learnt how to use a sewing machine (all our former creations were done caveman style....gangsta needles and threads..believe me..it wasnt funny..now we take 5 minutes to do what wed have formerly done in like 2 hours lol).. We've even learnt a lot about sizing...lol before i swear we were sewing for stick figures..we used to cringeee at the CRACKS and POPS we would hear when someone was trying on an outfit..while feverishly praying it doesnt come apart at the seams....sigh...we've DEFINITELY come a long way in only a matter of months...but i guess we have 3 times the brain power aye?

It doesnt hurt that we practice a lot on ourselves as well....when we realised that things we liked to wear were conspicously ABSENT in the stores... we mostly started making mostly everything that we wear..par example:

We get a lot of questions about Cranberry so heres a helpful Cranberry 101 (no not 101 things about cranberry) list ive put together...hope it clears up some "issues"

*** Cranberry is made up of THREE people. Not one...not 2..I know most times people associate it with who they know...but it gets very frustrating to work hard on something and then hear someone make a comment like "oseyis line...or Doreens designs..or Joans clothes"... We dont EVER under any circumstance divulge who sewed what or who designed what..we are an entity and we like to keep it that way. Believe it or not..we mostly have the exact same taste..sometimes it borders on scary..but then i guess thats what makes us gel in the first place***

***We all design and sew all the clothes ourselves. We actually share one sketch book where we put down all our ideas so we dont forget. We might work individually on an outfit or we might work together..it really doesnt matter.***

**! All the shoots and shows we've done so far have been styled, directed and photographed by us..we like to think that we are Jacks of all trades..forget the masters of none bit :p...we are on the look out for an excellent photographer now though!***

***Cranberry began only in summer '06....i.e. we are VERY new at this. We get a LOT of requests about where to get the clothes and a lot of questions about buyin stuff. We dont sell our clothes yet cos we dont even have a portfolio, and we need them for pictures. We are perfectionists to the core....we dont feel that our clothes are ready to be worn yet..... patience folks..very soon stingyberry will be available for sale!***

Okay i cant think of any more to add right now, but i hope that makes things a little bit clearer!

Anyways its Ozzy signing out now...Next time I blog i'll be in America..*knock on wood* and i'll be with my girls yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ive missed them SO MUCH.. my mothers ever dissapearing credit can attest to that...as well as the play i have to act "took ur phone? who? me? it was N30,000 on it and now its 50 kobo?? TRES SHOCKING!!!"

Cranberry kisses all!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Stay cool!

FINI!!

AWW YOU GUYSS!! SNIFF*

We just want to say that we are soo very thankful for all the support and love being directed towards cranberry....sniff*.....thanks guys!....its so much fun blogging and we are so GLAD y'all are interested in our clothing and hearing our story(lol or seeing pictures) ....its really a great feeling!:)....woohooo!!!!..we will keep on trying to make the blog fun and interesting for y'all...we are so stoked!......

Thanks to all those who featured us on their personal blogs(bella naija, taurean minx ( who happens to be oseyi's sister!),mari, naija gal, dammie)...i want to do the same tho but i dont know how to operate this blog thing lol.....pls explain...what do i press?? lol.

Anyway next week is going to be the starting point for creating our spring line....if you think this stuff we have already is cute(yes we ARE boasting)...you AIN'T seen nothing yet lol....its going to be fire!(by God's grace)...and thats a promise......

He has absolutely nothing to do with cranberry but dang this man is fine...i had to leave y'all ladies with a picture of this delicious cheescake of a will demps.

SPUNK AND SASS!

As an artist, inspiration is present in everything......the same thing occurs with designing clothes, you can hear a song and just imagine how it would look if it were a dress....for instance Gwen Stefani's song "bubble gum electric" For SOME reason makes me imagine a betsey johnson style dress...a bubble shaped dress made out of a bright fabric...yeah we love betsey!!..

I would say apart from finding the purrfect fabric...the next best thing about being a fashion designer is fitting your dress on the purrfect model...I wont lie.. altho i get mad at the fashion industry for constantly perpetuating the image of beauty as long and lean..excuse me...skinny and hungry....I'm shy to say that its easier fitting clothes on these ladies because the distraction of the attack and defense is absent...... i am just being truthful....making a bodice that holds up the boobies (i would know) is not the easiest thing when designing for amply blessed ladies...skinny chestless long girls just wear it and it stays up?...like magic...i am like dang...but all that will change when we hire tailors(AMEN)....with emphasis on the letter S at the end of tailor..right now all the clothes are made with lots of love and intense hate by all the cranberries....okay enought of broadcasting our laziness:(......anyway before i Totallly digress any furthur from my point...i would like to draw attention to a couple of ladies we find extremely edgy and cute...these ladies will feature in a photoshoot(coming soon) for cool chicas who rock cranberry....they are not your average long lean model chics(although we have a shoot for those ones lol)....these are just ladies who inspire us with their interesting looks and unique sense of self and style ......these are ladies we believe will catch your eye without even trying...for many different reasons.... i included some pictures of some of these ladies...i hope you are able to see what we see in them...they are all college students and i repeat... they have a sick sense of style...which is the reason why they are chosen to represent the

TITI

TONI

NAIMA

MARLENA

JULI ANKA

VERLYNCIA