No Debutante - Animal Nitrate

I have a new phone, it's just an android phone but does pretty much everything I require it to do with a much less sensitive touch screen (my last phone would try and open every link just by looking at it!!) and with its bigger screen and better apps I can now use Pinterest, Instagram, check out blogs and take much better photographs, which is great for my blogging requirements. I am a late comer to Instagram and so far have uploaded one image, but I am loving it already, the next step is Twitter and then I am all set for widening my blogging audience and generally moving this self confessed technology doofus further into the 21st century! It's an exciting time!

 

Here's today's personal style outfit on this sunny school run, cafe with friends and spending time with little Sylvie kinda day.......

Leopard print. I definitely have a problem with it, I thought I was over it but clearly, I am not and now I have little Sylvie who already has a few leopard print items herself, a day doesn't seem to go by when one of us isn't wearing it.

My Name is No Debutante and I am a leopard print addict.

 

ND xx

 

No Debutante - Born To Be Wild

It's another personal style post from me this sunny Monday morning and I am happy that I actually removed layers of clothing today on the school run, Spring really is, at last, here, Yippee! There is a very stylish little guest in the photographs today, stealing the limelight and generally looking ridiculously cute!

Awww! I love you my little Sylvie Belle!!

Sylvie turned 17 Months yesterday, time goes too fast...after having two boys, the chance to dress a baby girl is too exciting, I love it! Sylvie chooses to wear the fur coat wherever she goes, glamming it up, I'm so proud of her and her love of fashion!

 

Sylvie Belle wears fur coat from Zara kids, cardigan from George at Asda, knitted booties from Born and 1950s style circle skirt from Mamas and Papas.

 

All styling by No Debutante

 

ND xx

 

 

No Debutante - Dexys Debutante

Hey Hey! Hope you're having a fun weekend?

I spent the day at a spa in Bristol yesterday which was all very relaxing and a much needed break from the chaos that is my life. I took my Mum along, as a treat and after hogging the outdoor hot tub (it was sunny and we refused to get out) and then various sauna and steam rooms we had amazing full body massages! I, as always, fell asleep and then had to attempt to drive home, very relaxed but kinda sleepy! There was no chance that I could stay awake and get some blogging done yesterday!

This morning we were invited to a brunch at our friends Pete and Claire's, they have two boys and an amazing, many floored town house to explore, so my kids love going there. We ended up at the slightly overcast park for an hour of running around and now the kids are at home watching The Lorax whilst the baby sleeps, so the personal style blogging commences......

 

 

 I wore the dungarees to work on Friday, I'm sure you will be glad to hear that I did get on the right bus, remembered to put my make-up on and drop off the kids which is a Friday morning success in my book! My work colleague said I looked like Dexys (Dexys Midnight Runners circa Come On Eileen) which I took as a compliment.
 I tried out the forward victory rolls again in my hair, I'm getting bloody good at it!

The second outfit was my spa day outfit, I would have preferred to not wear tights but that is not likely in the UK at the mo. Brrrrrrr! I did get to sit outside in the hot tub though, pretending there was a heatwave.

Happy weekend and thanks for reading.

ND xx

 

This Is My England

As a little kid growing up in the 1980s here in England, there was a cult style that I would see on a daily basis, known as Skinheads or Skins these teenagers were given a bad reputation by the press, were not popular with parents, but were a massive British subculture and I secretly wanted to look like them, if only my Mum would have let me shave my hair off and leave a long fringe!

This massive British subculture which began in the 1970s now thrives all over the world in different guises for some it is a fashion statement for others it is a lifestyle.

 

 The look is very simple, a buttoned up Ben Sherman (probably checked and worn fitted and tucked in) or a Fred Perry polo shirt, Dr Martens, turned up jeans, braces, harrington jackets, bomber jackets (my latest fashion obsession) and short fitted skirts for the girls worn with ankle socks (preferably white) and docs or loafers.

The look is very androgynous, it's tough but smart. The music that goes with the subculture is a familiar sound to me and was played in my house a lot as a child.

 This is Ska!

Please pop on your favourite ska record and have a look at these images that I have been hoarding on Pinterest and I am now sharing with you. Expect original skinheads, new skins, the cast of Shane Meadows epic film This is England and more recent skinhead style inspired fashion shoots.

 

 

There is alot of the original skin heads style on the streets at the moment although I'm not sure how many people are aware that they have been inspired by it. Shirts buttoned up to the neck, Dr Marten boots, Dr Marten style shoes worn with ankle socks, turned up jeans and I am predicting the Bomber jacket is gonna be big over the next 12 months, I've pinned loads off them on Pinterest already, expect a bomber jacket post very soon. Whilst writing this post I have found many more blog worthy images for Skinhead style, so another post will be on the horizon!

 

I am very excited to announce that I hit my all time record for the number of blog views yesterday which was the best news for me! Thank you to everyone who follows me and hello to all my new readers!

 

All images courtesy of  kidsizebraces.tumblr.com, fashiongrunge.com, new-wave-hooker.tunblr.com, ftape.com, moon-turtle.tumblr.com, tensionwire.com and you can find all these images and loads more on my Pinterest boards follow me here http://pinterest.com/nodebutante/boards/ 

 

ND XX

No Debutante - BS7 Double Denim

It's Thursday!!! Only one more day at work and it's the weekend! Let's crack open the wine to celebrate.......but before we do here's a quick look at what I wore to the office this week in sunny old Bristol.

Denim Rockabilly

 

I walked around Topshop today and although it really is one of my favourite shops, I didn't feel the need to buy anything, I figured out I pretty much owned a version of most items in there in one guise or another thanks to many years of collecting and hoarding clothes. It was an uninspiring window shop..... I hate it when nothing catches my eye!

 

I nearly forgot, it is my little brother Mike's birthday today, Happy Birthday Mike!!!!

 

ND xx

My Style Inspirations - Susie Bubble aka Style Bubble

The word Style Icon has been used rather flippantly by me in earlier posts, I think the word Style Icon describes a person who you have admired and adored for a long time and a few of my style icons are relatively new people that I have been obsessing over with massive fashion crushes! Sometimes these are just fads, people who I admire at a certain time in my life, so for these newer style crushes I shall rename the title Style Inspirations who may one day join the ever growing list of my style icons who include Debbie Harry, David Bowie and Annabella Lwin from Bow Wow Wow.

One of my more recent style crushes is Susie Bubble from the amazing Style Bubble Blog. Susie's blog always gets my attention and although I love all her posts on new designers and her latest fashion finds, I am actually always hoping for one of her Personal style posts, sometimes I am lucky enough to get both in the same post! This girls style is everything I love about fashion, the bright colours, the mish mash of prints and textures with childlike accents, Susie Bubble has a style all of her own and I am in awe of it. A self confessed fashion outsider, Susie seems to make any item of clothing work for her whether it's a handmade student piece or a high fashion Haute Couture item, this queen of street style works it and tops it off with Mickey Mouse ears! 

Susie Bubble, I salute you!!

 

Bloomers. top knots, maxis, socks with sandals, platform creeper boots, rainbow colours, oversized, polka dots, denim and Mickey Mouse..... I think we've covered everything.....

I love her!

All images courtesy of the Style Bubble blog follow Susie Bubble here! http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/

Susie recently wrote a post about her Style Icons, I was very excited to find out that one of them was Bubble from Absolutely Fabulous (the name Style Bubble Susie confesses was not inspired by Bubble - it was nick name given to her at school as she was always daydreaming  'in a bubble') I remember loving Bubble's style too and I would wait each episode to see what she would wear next, this is definitely a Icon I need to start hoarding Pinterest images of for a future post!

Thank you so much for the inspiration Susie Bubble!!  

Find more of my Style Icons posts here http://no-debutante.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Debbie+Harry

http://no-debutante.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=david+Bowie

http://no-debutante.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=annabella+lwin

ND xx

No Debutante - Army Of Me

I joined Google + yesterday as part of my attempt to get more traffic to my blog, I currently only use Facebook and Pinterest which serve me well, I just need to get my blog out there even more! I am not trying to make a career out of blogging (although the opportunity would be amazing!!) I just want more followers and some recognition for my noncommercial fashion and styling ideas and inspirations. As much as I love Pinterest I really am very fussy about the fashion images that I repin, you see a lot of the same thing on Pinterest and that does not interest me, it's all too safe and let's say, wholesome, if it has been repinned a hundred times, I'm not interested. Not too be pretentious about these fashion images but they just do not inspire me, why do I want to look like everyone else? That's what everyone says I guess but, like sheep, they still repin that image!
 

So, what's next? Twitter, I guess, followed by Instagram, which would be a great way for me to instantly show my daily personal style pics. Blogging is so time consuming but I love it!

 Today's personal style images where taken on the mornings school runs thus far. Looks like I'm loving that Primark Khaki jacket and the Converse are still with me and I love layering it up!

If you're thinking I'm looking a little tired in these photographs you can blame

my 16 month old Sylvie Belle who has been getting us up at 6am since the clocks went forward, I worked out I've lost 7 Hours sleep in a week, That's nearly a nights sleep for me!! I am also useless at choosing what to wear when I'm tired so I am pleasantly surprised that I am looking, style wise, OK in these photographs.

I feel a style icon / inspirational post coming on, enough of me and my tired face!

ND xx

No Debutante - Who Loves The Sun

I found out yesterday evening that I, unfortunately, did not make it to the shortlist for the Company Style Bloggers Awards 2013, I am, of course, a bit gutted but I'm glad I entered and would like to thank everyone who nominated me, I really appreciate it. There were ten blogs selected out of possible hundreds even thousands of blogs ( I have no idea how many blogs were nominated) for each category and you never know, I could have been number 11 on the Best Personal Style Blog list and just missed out??  There is no point in feeling bad about losing out even though it would have been brilliant for me to get shortlisted, I won't over analyse it. I love blogging too much to just give up, it is like a diary for me now, well, a diary that other people are welcome to read! Congratulations to all the bloggers (some of whom I follow) that did make the shortlist and good luck in reaching the finals!

 

So, that's enough of all this Style Awards malarkey, let's get back to me and what I've been wearing! The sun actually came out this weekend and we had a picnic in the park.

 

 

 

 

This week has seen the return of the crop top for me, I wear mine with high waisted bottoms or layered over a vest. They are easier to wear than you think, despite the return of 1990s style I am not recommending low cut jeans with crop tops (or low cut jeans at all come to think of it!).

Converse and ankle socks is a preferred look for me at the moment too, it's childlike and preppy, so very much my syle. 

I am also really getting used to wearing my maxi skirt, I like to wear mine with a vest or crop top and reckon it would look great with my Ridiculous shoes (rainbow platform creeper boots for those who haven't yet met my ridiculous shoes!) especially on a hot summer evening! Come on Summer!

 

All styling by No Debutante

 

Thanks for reading!

ND xx

No Debutante - Band T-shirts and a Night Out

After successfully getting on the correct bus to work this Friday morning and feeling rather pleased with myself that I had got the kids to school and nursery on time and even managed to put Sylvie's hair up and style Mika's hair for him (he is getting very particular about his hair these days, I don't know where he gets it from..) to then realising that I had clearly not put on any make up!! This is a crisis for me since my make up hides how tired I really look and I also have fair eyelashes which without my faithful Max Factor Fat Lashes smothered on them frankly make my eyes look even smaller! I panicked and had no make up on me since swapping my bags and contents over when I went out last weekend, I walked into the office with my sunglasses on and luckily borrowed some make up from my work buddy Cath! Phew! Trauma over!

 

On Friday evening I caught up with my work buddy Rudi for drinks, we drank rum and put the world to rights and ended the night in a chip shop (don't judge, we were hungry!!) rather than a night club - Rock n Roll!! As always it is a pleasure hanging out with the lovely Rudi.

 

Casual work outfit - Blondie t-shirt borrowed from my husband Phil

 Friday night outfit and another band t-shirt

 Ridiculous rainbow shoes and turned up leopard print leggings

Rudi rocks it in denim hot pants and a faux fur

 

 

All styling (except Rudi) and photography by No Debutante

 

 

Don't forget to nominate me for the Company Style Blogger Awards 2013 here http://www.company.co.uk/magazine-hq/stylebloggerawards2013 it appears that the whole last days to nominate thing that was appearing on loads of blogs is untrue as the Company website is still promoting the awards on their homepage. So, if you do like what you see please nominate me in the Best Personal Style Blog catagory!

 

Thanks kids. ND xx

No Debutante - Jean Jeanie

I have been called out of work early today due to my son Lucian feeling unwell. I am still on the fence as to whether Lucian is actually poorly or felt like getting the day off school (it wouldn't be the first time) but the school are on it calling parents up at the whiff of any minor illness so Lucian was going home either way! As a parent I feel guilty for thinking these thoughts but I was a child too and had many a fake afternoon off school much to my Mums annoyance! As a good Mum I shall hope Lucian feels better soon! The positive side to this skive off work and school is that I get to do a bit of blogging leaving my evening free to watch a film and have a glass of wine with my gorgeous husband Phil.

 

This personal style post features double denim, layering, grunge,1950s styling and how I wear jeans.......in a general mash up of style it would seem!

 

Preppy 1950s styling

 

I have decided not to list the shops in which my items are purchased on every post but I will let you know when I get something new and where it came from. You are welcome to ask me though, I know my rainbow creeper boots post has been very helpful to all who also wanted to own those ridiculous shoes!

 

Styling by No Debutante

 

I have no clue whether you can still nominate me for the Best Personal Style Blog in the Company Style Blogger Awards 2013 as there is no info on the website to say when the deadline is so I'll just keep plugging it until 2014!

 

Nominate here http://www.company.co.uk/magazine-hq/stylebloggerawards2013

 

ND xx

No Debutante - Get Shirty

My Wednesdays at work have become more challenging with a constant weekly deadline looming over press days and planning sheets, it's changed my day of slowly easing back into work each week  (I work weds-Fri) to a full on, get thrown into the deep end first day back at work! To make things that little bit harder, the baby woke us up at 5.55am and my bloody phone company charged me £10 for listening to one track on Spotify?? What the??

 

Here's a quick look at what I have been wearing over the past few days, the denim shirt was a favourite. This is how I wear mine with a little help from Sylvie Belle. 

Sleeveless or long sleeves, denim shirts are one of my new favourite things to wear! Dr Martens and wearing my hair down were popular too it seems and another shock horror story I actually considered buying an iron (we don't iron anything, my mother in law claims she saw me ironing some flyers for my club night Bang once, sounds about right!) So, yeah, since I have been wearing shirts a lot lately and lots of Sylvie's dresses seem to need ironing, I was actually considering the iron option. Or get my Mum to do it for me! Do I look like I'm kidding??......Muuuuum?

 

All clothing from Primark, Topshop, H&M and Dr Martens

All styling by No Debutante

 

Nominate Me for the Best Personal Style Blog in the Company Style Blogger Awards 2013 here http://www.company.co.uk/magazine-hq/stylebloggerawards2013

ND xx

No Debutante - Weekender

On Saturday night I got to go out again to a less formal affair for a joint celebration for my brother Mike and his girlfriend Naomi's birthday's. I was very excited as I got to wear my new ridiculous shoes -the rainbow creeper wedges! I shall confess that although they are quite easy to walk in I definitely did twist my ankle whilst dancing! I also got to wear my lovely Vintage Americana print dress that I hadn't worn out yet and I also wore a denim waistcoat that I have had in my wardrobe for years (since everyone was wearing them in Japan when I went) but every time I put it on something wasn't right, for no reason whatsoever, it seems fine to wear now!? It's weird when that happens, but I'm glad I persevered!

 

 

After this long social drought I've been having I think I'm actually out again next weekend with my friend Rudi! What to wear??

 

All clothing from Primark, Topshop, H&M, Office and Tatty Devine (as usual!)

Styling by No Debutante

 

Nominate Me for the Best Personal Style Blog in the Company Style Blogger Awards 2013 here http://www.company.co.uk/magazine-hq/stylebloggerawards2013

 

ND xx