By STEPHANIE McGRATH
AllPop

The Sugar Jones girls didn't walk into the first round of "Popstars" auditions looking as coifed and glamorous as they do in their current video for "Days Like That".


So how does an average girl become a glam pop star?

Stylist Barb Cardoso had a hand in transforming the cute pop wannabes into a sleek vocal group. Working with the girls on their first video for "Days Like That" and on photo shoots, Cardoso, who has dressed b4-4, Econoline Crush and others, hit funky stores on Queen St. West in Toronto searching for the perfect outfits.

Before Cardoso even started shopping, she knew what look she wanted and what she wanted to stay away from.

"[I stayed away from] That really, glitzy, shiny diva stuff," she says, "'cause I think that's been done. I think it might have been too mature looking for some of them as well."

To reflect their youth but maintain a sense of style, Cardoso picked clothes for the video and photo shoots that she describes as "street chic". She dressed the girls in rich colours (like Andrea's purple shirt in the video) and lots of hip denim. She glitzed up their look through shiny accessories such as bracelets and belts but made sure the girls were comfortable with the look.

"They all had their own personal style," she says. "I didn't change anything personally. If you make them wear something they don't want to wear it's going to definitely affect the performance and affect how they look in the photo shoot."

So what one thing should be in your closet if you long to have the Sugar Jones look?

"A really good pair of like funky jeans is always great," says Cardoso, "something with a little bit of detail. It's a good thing to be more casual I think."

But it took more than funky clothes for Sahara, Julie, Mirella, Maiko and Andrea to truly live up to the "Popstars" persona.

Buster Berkeley, a hair stylist from the Amorphous Hair Group in Toronto, had already been watching the Global TV show when he was asked to give the girls of Sugar Jones a make-over.

"I am a colour freak," says Berkeley when asked what the most important factor in having a trendy hairstyle is. "I think every woman should be wearing colour. Colour is an accessory like an earring, like your bracelet, like a wristwatch, like a chain. That's how I see colour with hair."

Berkeley took his advice to heart when tackling Sugar Jones's hair. Julie went blond, Sahara auburn, Mirella chestnut while Andrea and Maiko were both treated to over $500 hair extensions.

According to Berkeley, the girls' new, free-flowing styles were each carefully co-ordinated with one another in order to achieve a unified look.

"...two long, one short, one medium, bang, bang, bang," Berkeley says about the group hair. "I had to co-ordinate it all in my mind. Entertainers, how are they going to accepted? What is going on in fashion? [I] had to compile all the information in my brain and balance it out to get that look."

Like Cardoso's fashion selections, Berkeley says each of the individual hair styles says something about the girl wearing it but also looks great when compared to the other four group members. As an example, he says Julie's spiky style says she's "Outgoing...amazing...funky...Julie's happenin'" while Sahara's look tells fans she's "fun, beautiful, nice, smart, interesting".

Tip for fans seeking a funky hair style? Try colour, Berkeley suggests, although he says you'd be smarter to invest in a professional dye job than to wrestle with home hair dye kits from drug stores.

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