The Anti Fashion Klown Tribe

Today's post was supposed to be about a group of influential fashionistas and creatives that I follow Instagram, but I found myself totally girl crushing on Tuttii Fruitti London and ended up listening to podcast interviews and watching YouTube videos to find out more about them! So, here it is, a lil' post dedicated to Tuttii Fruitti London, if you think I'm colourful then get ready to be dazzled!

TUTTII FRUITTI LONDON

The Tuttii Fruittii Klowns

Tuttii Fruittii London caught my eye on Instagram a few years ago, after I started to follow, the self confessed Clown Hair Sculptures, Tuttii Fruittii and Toni Tits. I became fascinated with their anti fashion, punk clown styling. I just love their self titled Technicolour Hair Sculptures and their own personal clown style.

Toni Tits & Tuttii Fruittii in their salon in Deptford

First things first, They are Klowns and I love them for it!

The Tuttii Fruitti salon started off in a caravan that often went on tour, around festivals as an art installation, as well as a hair salon, when not based in an old school playground in Deptford, London. Following the gentrification of Deptford and their beloved school being turned into flats, Tutti Fruitti opened their own salon on Douglas Way in Deptford, I think a year ago, (instagram tells me they've just had a one year anniversary party).

The Tuttii Fruitti caravan and salon 

The salon is decorated in their awe-inspring style of mixing colourful, patterns and artwork into their safe and welcoming space for all who are wanting to get their hair sculpted into amazing styles by these beautiful Klowns. I am dying to get down to Deptford and get my hair did! Imagine if they were in Bristol, I'd be in there all the time!

The Tuttii Fruitti Klown style is a mix of traditional clown and London street style. The make-up is contemporary and tribal and reminds me of, a very bright and colourful,  Leigh Bowery and NYC Club Kid style mashed up with clown prints and memphis style art, creating their signature Tuttii Fruitti style.

The hair sculptures mix intricate, shaved, undercut styles with bright colours and patterns. Tuttii Fruitti even incorporate prints and styles from traditional clown costumes into their hairstyles! They are Klowns, they do hair and they are just amazing! I love them!

An example of Tuttii Fruitti's unique hair sculpting and make up creations

Watch this video interview with Tuttii Fruittii on the INFRINGE magazines youtube video for a chance to learn more about the fascinating world of Tuttii Fruitti London!

All images courtesy of Tuttii Fruittii London. 

If you are having a fashion event or a have a new collection you would like No Debutante to promote please get in touch!

Check out my work with Bristol 24/7 magazine under my name 
Emma Gorton-Ellicott

If you are interested in collaborating with No Debutante or getting featured on the No Debutante blog please contact me nodebutanteblog@gmail.com

Keep up with No Debutantes OOTD posts, collabs and current fashion obsessions posted daily on all of the following. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest all under the #nodebutante name.

Thanks for checking in Fashionistas.   
ND xx

My naked journey - Promoting self love and body positivity with Mermaid in England

I met Mermaid in England founder and body positivity promoter Antonia Furlong after I wrote a fashion article on her for Bristol 24/7, promoting her inspiring swimwear fashion shoots.

The important thing you need to know about Antonia is that she only uses real models for her photo shoots. Y'know, people like you and me! People with lumps and bumps and scars, people with disbilities, real people who have not been airbrushed, - just real women, photographed in some swimwear, looking bloody fabulous!

A year ago, you would not have seen an image of me wearing swimwear on anything close to how naked I feel in these photographs. I have no real explanation why I wouldn't show off my body, hell, I do it at the beach and really couldn't care less, but for some reason, for me, to take a photo of my body and share it with the world, was a step too far! 

No Debutante wearing the Wild Side Halter neck top string bikini by Mermaid In England for the Majorca photo shoot

One reason, I guess, would be that my body is the body of a 42 year old woman, who has had three kids. I am not the Victoria Secret model you were expecting, I have a normal body not an instagrammable body and I am not even young anymore!

I am unhappy because, I don't have enough curves or my legs aren't skinny enough or my belly is no longer flat or I have dimples in my legs, I don't have a thin model body but I am not meeting the criteria to be a plus model either. I'm just in the middle, just normal. So, why am I making such a fuss? 

Well, another reason is that, despite taking photos of myself all the time in my fashion selfies and sharing them on my blog and social media, I , now stay with me here, think that if I share a photo of myself, in lingerie or swimwear, I am showing off! 

Honestly, how messed up is that? I think it may be a generation thing but to flaunt yourself, when I was a teenager, was showing off. We were made to feel bad about exposing our bodies, unless you were a super model, of course! 

Hell, my body looked bloody fab in my early twenties (ahem..the whole of my twenties) I even did some lingerie and swimwear modelling when I was at Uni, but I only shared that with the Uni and the hundreds of people that saw me at the fashion shows and in the photographs! There was no instagram to share my amazing body with. It was like a dirty little secret, that I had photos taken half naked! Yes, me!

With the kids getting ready to throw water over the Mermaid in England colour changing bikini which turns from pink to leopard print when wet. A-MAZE!

An unoffical photo from the Mermaid in England photo shoot

So, how did I manage to conquer my fears and get my kit off again after all these years?

After chatting with Antonia about her inspiring photo shoots, taken by the lovely and now very pregnant, Viktoria Kuti, I got caught up in a wave of female empowerment to start really promoting body positivity. Previous to the Mermaid In England article I had already seen so many amazing female motivational artists and instagrammers promoting self love and their fabulous bodies of all shapes and sizes. Getting themselves out there and saying it's Ok to not be, what society see's as perfect!

It is so important for women, young girls, my daughter, my sons, in fact everyone, to just love themselves and to be kind and positive to others too! I see all these positive role modes and just thought, what the hell am I worried about here? What can I do?

Loving this group shot of all the Mermaids from the September shoot.

Antonia kindly, gave me this fabulous pink bikini to take on my holidays so I decided to take the ball by the horns and do a fun-filled No Debutante 'how I wore' photo shoot to help promote Mermaid In England as a brand and their body positive ethos. 

Then, Antonia took it a step further and asked me to join the next body positivity photo shoot! This was way out of my comfort zone, it's all well and good taking photos of yourself, on your private holiday, where nobody except your family (they are used to this sort of thing going on) can see you but being in a room, with lots of other people you don't know including a photographer seemed to be taking things a bit too far. 

How can I promote body positivity if I am not body positive myself? I said 'yes' straight away as I have a problem with agreeing to things without thinking them through but after doing my own No Debutante X Mermaid in England bikini photo shoot the nerves started to kick in. 

Inspiring women on the shoot

Less than a week after I had returned back to the UK from my, much needed, holiday in Majorca, I found myself sat in a room with loads of women I hadn't met before, we were all strangers and we were about to take part in a bikini fashion shoot together. This already sounds very surreal. 

The first thing I was asked was if I had done anything like this before. I realised that I was telling a stranger about my student lingerie modelling days and that yes, I had done something similar but made excuses that I don't have the same body as I had then and I'm too old to do that now! As soon as I said it, I felt silly for feeling bad about it and putting it down. 

Why would I hide that I used to be very happy with my body, of course my body has changed, I've got older and have had three children! I USED TO MODEL LINGERIE! 

I have never met such a group of courageous, honest and fabulous women, the more I spoke to them and the more stories I heard, the more I felt happy with myself, as a woman. We were all beginning to feel happy with ourselves. 

There were burns victims confidently flouncing around, girls who thought they were fat (they weren't), larger women embracing their curves, Mum's with 4 kids, a mother and daughter model team, just so many amazing women. 

I have to admit that I did not feel, at any point, uncomfortable with showing off my body, to me it seemed that none of us did in the end! We were all in it together.

I am really looking forward (half dreading) seeing the photographs taken by Viktoria for the Mermaid in England, real models shoot, just so you know, all of these photos shown today are my own, I will share the official shoot photographs once they have been launched by Mermaid in England!

Growing up in the nineties had made me very self-conscious about my body. Despite loving modelling as a uni student. I would buy fashion magazines, I loved fashion (obvs) but all the models were as skinny as hell. The influential look was waif and even worse Heroin Chic (Fucking Heroin Chic? Really?) with role models like Kate Moss and Jodie Kidd, plastered over everything, making you feel fat and giving you a borderline eating disorder to try and get super thin.

At the same time, boys at school would call me a footballer, saying I had footballers legs, which used to upset me so much as I really wanted skinny legs, like the girls in the fashion mags and I was already aware that my legs were a bit bigger than the (what I saw as normal) skinny girls! 

One moment of self realisation for me, was that those boys, whether it was maliciously or not, they were saying I was fit! I had a strong and athletic body. I WAS SUPER FIT! If anything, it's a massive compliment and I'm gonna take it!   

The real question is, am I happy with these photo shoot images of me prancing about in a bikini? Well actually, yes, I am. My body is now half toned and half curvy, I have a few dimples and lumps and I do wish I had Shari Knowles, the make-up artist from the Mermaid in England shoot for my holiday shoot, but yeah, my body is alright......OK, I'll say it, it's bloody amazing! 

I have (quite literally) bared all today, shared some stuff I am not entirely happy with sharing, but I am on the right path for my journey for self love and body positivity and I urge you all to do the same. Join a Mermaid in England photo shoot, love your body, be kind to others, accept yourself and remember how bloody amazing you are! 

Find out more about Mermaid in England and their body positivity photo shoots

Read the original Bristol 24/7 article A Little Mermaid with big ideas 

If you are having a fashion event or a have a new collection you would like No Debutante to promote please get in touch!

Check out my work with Bristol 24/7 magazine under my name 
Emma Gorton-Ellicott

If you are interested in collaborating with No Debutante or getting featured on the No Debutante blog please contact me nodebutanteblog@gmail.com

Keep up with No Debutantes OOTD posts, collabs and current fashion obsessions posted daily on all of the following. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr,  Pinterest all under the #nodebutante name.

Thanks for checking in Fashionistas.   
ND xx

Pinterest obsessions - Modern Art Muses

This post was originally going to be fashion based inspired by my latest musings on pinterest but when I checked out the current pins on the No Debutante pinterest boards I realised I have been subconsciously collecting a lot of art.

I like art. I went to art college. Art was my favourite subject at school and as a kid if I wasn't outside climbing trees and riding my bike I was inside, drawing.   

I never saw myself having a career in art, to be honest, I certainly didn't see myself having a career as a fashion journalist so it's funny how things turn out! Creating garments and prints for a fashion label was as close as I got to becoming an artist. I just adored fashion and in the end that's the avenue I took. 

I am really interested in graphic design and typography, which came as a surprise to me as I hated it whilst I was at art college, I was all about the fine art then. I also love 1980's artists including Jean Michel Basquiat's graffiti'd fine art and I just adore Keith Haring's style, simple graphics, repeated patterns and bright, bold colours with a thick, dark outline.

New York Beat by Jean Michel Basquiat

I am always talking about the Italian Memphis art (also from the 1980's) on this blog and I was so excited when it became contemporary again with designers, like local Bristol designer & No Debutante fave Tezla, whose Memphis style graphics adorn her geometric jewellery pieces. 

Clearly, I am reminded by my youth with all of these artists and the beginnings of graffiti and street art being fresh in my mind. I like bright colours and patterns which always seem to have a fun childlike edge to them. Contemporary artists I like seem to be influenced from this era too.

I am also rather partial to Matisse's cut and paste abstract graphic style which in turn must have influenced Keith Haring in a way. 

Not forgetting a slice of Pop Art and a bit of psychedelia, the Yellow Submarine used to be a favourite film and I just loved the bizarre, abstract artwork by artists including Heinz Edelmann, who was also inspired by Art Deco and Surrealism but his interpretation included the bright colours and patterns that I crave!  





Memphis style artwork

The artwork on show today is only what has appeared in my most recent pinterest hoarding and perhaps this will become a new feature for the blog.It's safe to say that these posts will always be filled with bright colours, fun illustrations and repeating patterns and Modern Art is definitely my thing! 

Alexander Medel Calderon for Lazy Oaf

Keith Haring

Keith Haring does Henri Matisse

Jean Michel Basquiat and his art

PLAY MORE DANCE MORE by Camille Walala

Keith Haring invitation

Alexander Medel Calderon

Jordy van den Nieuwendijk

WASTED by Marco Oggian

If you are having a fashion event or a have a new collection you would like No Debutante to promote please get in touch!

Check out my work with Bristol 24/7 magazine under my name 
Emma Gorton-Ellicott

If you are interested in collaborating with No Debutante or getting featured on the No Debutante blog please contact me nodebutanteblog@gmail.com

Keep up with No Debutantes OOTD posts, collabs and current fashion obsessions posted daily on all of the following. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr,  Pinterest all under the #nodebutante name.

Thanks for checking in Fashionistas.   
ND xx

Confessions of a big holiday packer

If anything, this unusually hot UK summer had given me a head start on what to wear and pack for the annual family summer holiday trip (It was Majorca this year...again...we love Majorca).

I had noticed that in previous years I would often pack clothes that I might wear if I was on holiday in a hot country, a just incaser, but this year I've had a lot of practise in choosing summer outfits so I came to the conclusion that 'if I haven't worn it this summer, it ain't coming on holiday!' However, I am not a light packer....

A handful of garms for our family holiday wardrobes

The Guardian fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley put it best in her 2017 article Don't pack light pack clever about holiday packing essentials, where she announced that she 'didn't trust people who pack light, they are smug gits!' Correct! If I want to take everything on my holiday with me, I am going to bloody take everything on my holiday with me!

If you are happy washing out your families pants and t-shirts whilst on your holiday then good for you! I won't be joining you. When I'm on holiday, I've got an important meeting with a sun bed, a good book and a glass of Sangria.

Obligatory plane selfie 

Whilst researching peoples compulsion to pack light, I came across the phenomena that is environmentally friendly packing cubes....Can I ask what is this obsession (especially with pinterest users) with packing cubes? WTAF? They were apparently designed to replace those plastic carrier bags you've been popping your shoes and dirty washing in, I am a big supporter of getting rid of plastics but surely by now we are all owners of canvas style bags for life and if we really need extra bags we can use one of those? It's more environmentally sound to use a bag you already own, isn't it?

Before packing cubes were invented were people going out of their way to purchase plastic bags for their holiday packing? I think not. If pinterest is anything to go by these cubes were designed for the packing obsessive, a person who has far too much time on their hands, a person who is happy individually packing little bundles of garments and gubbins into separate packing cubes, just to make their case look nice and neat. Stand aside saddo's I've got a handful of socks that need wedging down the sides of my already heavily packed case! 

It's late but we arrive at the most beautiful Majorcan Finka

I have three kids (four if you include my husband who seriously packs more beach toys than the kids do! He even managed to ram his skateboard in the case this year!) so yeah, we have a lot of stuff. One good thing we do for the environment is we reuse our inflatables and don't dump and buy like so many seem to do on each trip. So that's four kids, Me and lots of clothes, we usually go for around ten days, maybe we'll go out at night, will we need two outfits on some days? How much stuff do we take?

Family beach selfie with the kids and my Mum! 

I find we double up and reuse t-shirts and shorts (that don't get ice cream all over them) and the kids practically live in swimwear so that's ten outfits for ten days, that covers any trips out and ice-cream spillages, no need for extra garms and certainly no need to spend my holidays washing clothes!

I've not worn heels for about two years, it's all about the comfort right here, so I only need to take sliders and a couple of pairs of trainers, that's practically all I've worn all summer anyway. We are not a family who glams up to go out, we dress comfortably, it's not about how pressed and brand new we look. You can tell when a family has bought  a whole new wardrobe for their holidays, it makes me nauseous, I imagine the waste and the big bag of garms sent to the charity shop as the winter approaches.

One of the few moments we weren't wearing swimwear! This Duvet Days co-ord was just perfect for hot summer nights!

So, how did we cram our whole lives into these five cases, yes five! My husband Phil even got us extra carry-ons this year, even I thought that was a bit extreme! Although I will never consider a carry on case each unless we were going for a shorter holiday, I do take one swimwear item, toothbrush, minimal make up and any meds, as well as the usual travel stuff passports etc, in my carry on bag. Ever had your luggage go missing when you reach your holiday destination? We have, and guess what was in the missing case?! Never again!

In conclusion, now we have returned from our amazing summer holiday, in all seriousness how successful was this years holiday pack?

I have to confess to bringing home a case with many unworn clothes inside! This year Majorca was very, very hot, this combined with it being a different kind of holiday for us, less resort holiday and more laid back hanging out at our beautiful Finka in the Majorcan countryside, we literally spent the whole day in swimwear, unless we ventured out in the car to the beach or to a restaurant. We did use all of the inflatables, towels and beach paraphernalia that contributed to a large part of our holiday packing so it's never over-packing to take these items. 

My morning view

Personally, I had a few pairs of trackies and loose trousers I didn't wear due to the heat, Phil wore less short sleeve shirts/ t-shirts as we didn't go out every night and the same with the kids. Sylvie had two super cute hareem jumpsuits that she refused to wear as she was too hot. 

We totally lucked out on the weather so I don't mind lugging back the unworn clothes and I am still standing by packing what you want! As a Brit we always say 'Be prepared for every weather eventuality' and yes, I did pack an umbrella and it did rain.....once (umbrella unused). 

Why shouldn't I pack lots of garms? I am a fashion blogger and a fashion editor, I need to look good and have a variety of outfits to choose from, I took a wardrobe of swimwear garms alone and I am happy with that! Capsule wardrobes just don't seem to work for me, I change my mind too much and don't like to be restricted in fashion! 

I think it's amazing how we managed to fit our whole life into five cases for ten days, my gosh you should see how much we take for a weekend camping!

Hope you had a great summer!

If you are having a fashion event or a have a new collection you would like No Debutante to promote on the blog, social media platforms or on the YouTube Channel please get in touch!

Check out my work with Bristol 24/7 magazine under my name 
Emma Gorton-Ellicott

If you are interested in collaborating with No Debutante or getting featured on the No Debutante blog please contact me nodebutanteblog@gmail.com

Keep up with No Debutantes OOTD posts, collabs and current fashion obsessions posted daily on all of the following. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest all under the #nodebutante name.

Thanks for checking in Fashionistas.   
ND xx