No Debutante- Vintage Twist

I am back after a weekend of attending the G-star ladies night, watching my husbands band The Relay Rips perform at the Your Street Gift Card event, ripping my kitchen apart (to make way for the new one) and spending time with my kids and it's Sunday night already and the Monday Morning school run is looming closer. Where does the time go??

Let's crack on with another personal style post which today features preppy little dresses with a vintage twist. I own so many dresses and I was definitely in a dress wearing mood on this week (dating back to the beginning of September). The weather was still warm and I was lucky enough to not have to wear tights (a distant memory to me already since Autumn finally seems to have kicked in here in Bristol, UK).  Oh Bare legs, I miss you!! 

Essentially I am wearing two different dresses with the same accessories, I wasn't conscious of doing this and don't really mind that I did, both looks still look fairly different and I am happy with the result. Which look do you prefer?

Wow! I manged to get the post finished super fast, which gives me more time for blogging! The next post is inspired by a certain trend that I have been collecting images of for over a year on Pinterest and coincidentally links to a favourite look from the A/W 2013 shows. I shall be showing you my favourite Pinterest images of how to wear the look and where you can buy it on the high street. All you have to do is wait for the next post to find out what it is! 

Thank you for following and have a fun filled week!

ND xx

No Debutante - Oh Mickey, You're so fine

Oh Mickey, you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind....Hey Mickey! 

Here's a short and sweet post of one of my personal style outfits, it didn't really go with any other outfits I wore around the same time and was pretty casual for me in denim cut offs, tube socks, Converse and my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt. The look is inspired by 1980s sports styling and 1970s skaters.

I have a feeling that I am going to struggle to do much blogging over the next few days due to being  busy packing up my kitchen to get it's retro caravan kitchen diner makeover which is starting next week! I'm half excited and half terrified as we do not really know how long we won't have a kitchen for! I am also attending the G-Star event on Friday so let me remind any Bristolians to get over to the Bristol G-Star store in the Cabot Circus between 5.30-8pm to receive goodie bags, free nails and hair make overs and view the latest ladies wear ranges!! I'll see you there!

Thanks for following!

ND xx

My Summer on Instagram

I didn't realised quite how busy my summer was until I saw how many Instagram photographs I had saved up to show you! I perhaps should go back to my month on Instagram posts next time! 

Brisfest/Ibiza/Sylvie's Skateboard/Bristol Gromits/Peskimo/Camping/Bristol Museum/ Bec's leaving party/Bristol Zoo/Bike Riding/Rainbow/ Baby Bunches/Seaside/Water parks/ Friends/Sunny/Fun

That pretty much sums up this summer for us!

How many times am I gonna say goodbye to the summer this year? I don't know, there are still rumours of a late heatwave here in the UK. I'd love to believe it! 

Thanks for reading!

 

ND xx

No Debutante - Last days of Summer

I had to get to the end of August with these personal style posts and I am finally there, even though it's nearly October....ahem! 

For the last weekend of the holidays we took a last minute trip to Dawlish in the UK for a few nights of camping, well let's say Glamping, we even had an electric hook up this time, but staying true to the old camping style of cooking off of a small gas stove and listening to the radio, we only ended up using the electric hook up to plug in our phones and use a small lamp, everything else was pure living in a tent with no mod-cons heaven. The weather was amazing, hot and sunny, which makes camping go so much easier, although I have to admit I do get a bit excited if it starts to rain, I love being in the tent when it's raining outside.......for about an hour......... and then I want the sun to come back.

You can only imagine how much stuff we took camping and the amount of clothes I had packed for myself and the kids, I mean, you have to pack for all weather conditions, don't you? Let's say we probably only wore half of it (at the most) I blame the sunny weather.......

The day we left for camping I had been to work and didn't want the hassle of changing so I thought a pair of dungarees would do the trick and good ol' Converse Allstars. I was dressed up Land Girl style and was ready to put me a tent up and spend a few nights in the great outdoors! I hadn't planned on putting a tent up in the dark but alas this is what happened! As some of you may know when I briefly mentioned it a few weeks ago this camping holiday didn't run smoothly (does it ever?) but I am not going to go into all that again, so let's look at the photographs through rose tinted glasses and enjoy what I wore on my perfect, end of the holidays, camping holiday. 

The second day, was sunny and hot and all I needed was my floral Topshop playsuit and some flip flops and popped my hair in a topknot and I was ready for more camping fun! This involved, swimming in a freezing cold out outdoor pool and generally living my day to day, kid filled life of chaos but in a tent.' I am still having fun' she says, the fixed smile beginning to fade! 

Day three and it's still sunny, it's time for another Topshop favourite the peephole skater dress and flip flops, I love little Sylvie trying to be like Mummy in the last photograph, she loves to copy and is so cute! On this day we played in an adventure playground in the woods, visited a graveyard, we love a graveyard, I know, it's a bit dark for this glorious British camping holiday, we didn't go looking for it, we just found it! Great weather for summer desses and flip flops though.....hang on, the dunagrees were from Topshop too, Topshop wanna start sponsoring me for all my hard work in wearing all their lovely clothes that I can't stop buying!

I miss you already summer, don't leave! 

I realise I have loads of images on Instagram of what my kids have been up to this summer, I had lots of images from the camping trip alone so I will follow this post with an Instagram catch up before we go back to more of my current fashion obsessions!

Thanks for following! I nearly have 90 Google + followers which I am very excited about! I really appreciate it and work hard on my blog so it is great that people are interested in what I wear and have to say xx

ND xx

No Debutante - Vintage Denim

I love denim, I wear it nearly everyday in every guise from vintage cut jeans to retro denim jackets to customised denim cut offs. Today's personal style outfit both feature denim but in very different looks and both are based on vintage and retro styles.

The first outfit is an eighties inspired version of the 1950s look, the 1950s were massive in the eighties and this is a contemporary version combining three decades in one look! Confused yet? The denim in this outfit is new but the cut of these Vivien of Holloway jeans (regular followers will know I love these jeans) comes from vintage 1950s jean patterns and I love them.

The second outfit features a bit of double denim with the denim panels on the shirt and the vintage 1970s denim pinafore dress which I have owned since the 1990s.

I have loved wearing my hair twisted and pinned up this summer. Hairpins are one of the greatest inventions for hair and you can achieve these twisted up looks using hairpins even if you have short hair (obviously not cropped short!) it's a great way to give the illusion that your hair is longer and it is so easy to do whether your hair is long or short! You can also use hair clips and flowers to keep the style in place. Try it today!

 

I've been at Brisfest (an annual Bristol festival) all weekend and I now need my beauty sleep. Hope you had a great weekend too!

Thanks for following and hello new followers!! xx

ND XX

No Debutante - West End Girls

The summer holidays seem like a distant memory now but I have still have a few more summer personal style posts to go, I am definitely playing catch up! For anyone who wants to see what I am wearing right now you need to follow me on Instagram here   instagram.com/nodebutante

Today's photographs were taken on a late summer visit to my hometown Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, UK. It's a traditional seaside town and when I visit these days I visit as a holiday maker and we eat fish and chips, walk along the prom and my kids love the water park! I always meet one of my oldest friends Rachel (who now lives in London) with her family and we do the holiday thing with all of our five kids and they love it. 

I have chosen to wear a land girl style outfit in dungarees and scarf in my victory rolled hair. Rachel, like me, is not scared to dress the way she wants to and there is always lots of colour and prints and on this day she wore a fantastic bodycon dress and large sunglasses. I always love the way this girl dresses!! Along with myself and my friend Selena, Rachel will one day become a granny fashionista, I know I will not be alone in my mad old, colourful printed clashing world! Rachel, will definitely be the one in leopard print!! Rachel has more leopard print than me which I thought was impossible! 

Check out the photographs of what we wore and what the kids did!

Happy Days!!

Thanks for following xxxxxxxx

ND xx

No Debutante - Doll Face

Today's outfits are very different. 

I love mixing up prints and in the first outfit I haven't held back with my vintage Americana

print top, ditsy floral skater skirt and leopard print Converse, topped off with a camouflage jacket. Since my hair has been getting longer I have been attempting different ways to put my hair up. I am happy with my victory rolls and headscarf looks but I like to add braids into the mix these days for a bit of texture, it's very grunge influenced and I haven't really worn braids since the 1990s. Today's braids are really random, I don't take too much time doing them which suits the cute, grunge look and despite the lack of effort, is quite pleasing. 

On this day we went as a family to Dean lane skate park in Bristol for a skate event. I've added a couple of other photographs from the day so you can see what a stylish bunch my family are, rockin' it in a rockabilly /skate /skinhead style. Check out Naomi, she was nearly half way through her pregnancy here and you can barely tell! I love the photograph of Sylvie walking away from the skater boys (her brothers and friend) so cute!

Carrying on the family theme, I had a little guest join me in the photographs for the second outfit. Sometimes little Sylvie just likes to join in! The outfit is one of my vintage style rockabilly looks with a Breton tee, Vivien of Holloway vintage cut jeans and red accents.

 Sylvie's dresses are from Boden and H&M with boots from Converse.

Which is your favourite look? 

Thanks for following and I shall be back very soon with some more fashion fun!!

ND xx

No Debutante - G-Star Bristol

I met up with ladies wear specialist Carmen for the Dutch urban clothing label and raw denim specialists G-Star brand here in Bristol, a few weeks back, to have a chat and a look at the latest ladies wear collections in store. I am going to be doing a collaborations product post with G-star ladies to help promote the latest collections and to show you how I wear G-Star!

The one thing I noticed about G-star clothing is the attention to detail on pockets and trims, there are military influences that will always catch my attention since I am definitely a military and denim lover, what is not to like here?? The denim fabrics are tough but soft to wear and this makes a change from the flimsy denim fabrics used in other (nameless) high street stores that I have been accustomed to of late. Carmen took me on a shop tour and I wasted no time in getting some of these lovely products tried on for a quick in store photo shoot. I fell in love with the A-Crotch 3D loose tapered jeans, I spotted the shape and cut instantly and had to try them on. Carmen and the shop manager were insisting that I wore the jeans low on my hips, which I haven't done since I wore hipster jeans well over six years ago. I looked at it differently this time, as the A-Crotch jeans were tapered and not super skinny and this dismissed any ideas of a muffin top appearing!! I actually felt quite comfortable with the look and it was very different for me, which I like, I don't like to keep wearing the same styles for too long or to get stuck in a fashion rut, a change in style is good!! I paired the jeans with a couple of different sleeveless shirts chosen from the latest ranges ( a sleeveless shirt is a current favourite in my wardrobe at the moment) I wore the denim Tailor Custom sleeveless shirt with a knot detail and contrasting panels but my favourite was the Beach Rovic Palm sleeveless shirt with the all over khaki palm camouflage print, which I also tied in a knot - well it was still hot and sunny at the time, I'm sure I will be trying on jackets and knitwear when I go again in the near future!

I shall be styling the latest G-star collections up to show you how No Debutante wears G-Star and I shall attempt to wear those low slung A-crotch jeans 1950s pedal pusher style! Carmen would like to see how I would wear double denim and I would like to see how the G-Star staff would dress me, so lots going on which is very exciting! 

 I insisted on taking photographs of the G-Star staff who were dressed up in the latest G-Star ranges. 
To my surprise the girls were wearing items from the men's wear collections and to be honest, they looked really cool, with their low slung jeans, a real androgynous tomboy style, proper boyfiend jeans, they looked great! I especially loved the double denim outfit, it was very reminiscent of 1980s skinhead style with turned up jeans and a  denim jacket in the same hue worn with polished boots and accessorised with a 1990s style skater chain and a topknot, a real mash up style which is right up my fashion street! 
The whole look is available at G-Star as they produce everything from denim jeans to dresses and footwear and everything in between making their mark as high end, high street all rounders.

 For those of you in the Bristol area there is an event taking place at the G-Star Cabot 

Circus store in Bristol coming up in a couple of weeks, especially for all you lovely ladies out there who 

are interested in the brand and would like to know more.  

The G-star event is a women’s night promoting the A/W 2013 collections as well as the 

extensive premium denim range, anyone who would like to join Carmen and 

the G-Star Bristol team for an exclusive night with DJ’s, free hair, make-up and nail

treatments, drink and food to fill your belly and of course the chance to enjoy the 

great new products as much as they do and even get a free goody bag too!! Invite 

your friends along to the event. See the flyer below for more info!!! And if I see you 

there don’t forget to come and say hello! 

 Do let me know if you need any extra info on G-star and the Bristol event and check out the latest ranges from G-Star here https://www.g-star.com/en_uk/

Thanks for reading xx

More personal pics from No Debutante to follow!

ND xx