Mind your Manners

I was introduced to Manners London by Joh Rindom at the That Thing Festival launch in her Stokes Croft shop. I had scanned all the lovely garms, knowing I was going to buy something at the event (I always do) and one of the items, a monochrome geometric printed catsuit had caught my eye. I had paused and thumbed the item as I passed through the clothes rail and I turned around to see Joh greeting me wearing the very same outfit! It looked amazing! 

I usually dismiss a catsuit as I am not a skinny girl, just an average size 12/14 with a few squishy bits, but that's to be expected of a woman in her 40's whose had three kids! But seeing this catsuit (or jumpsuit as it is named at Manners) looking so amazing on Joh, just made me want the catsuit even more!

All dressed up in my Manners London jumpsuit for my gig at the Bristol Harbour Festival

The reason I am highlighting my shape is that what I hadn't realised on first inspection was that Manners London  - as their website suggests  - is 'not your average bodycon'. Using a trademarked fabric, Manners create gorgeous bodycon garms with added support for women with boobs, bums and tums! 

The VV Bodysuit worn by curvy and fabulous models

Joh Rindom and No Debutante twnning in our Manners London jumpsuits at the That Thing Festival fashion launch party
Photographs courtesy of Dulcie Horn

I can wear my Manners jumpsuit without a bra and I still feel safe, comfortable and nipped in, this garm is so flattering and |I love everything from the soft, comfortable fabric, the contemporary 'Esk print' and the low cut back, which makes me feel so happy to be able to go bra-less and actually bear my back! Something I would not have done before.

Manners London bodycon suits all shapes and sizes!

I am an avid bra wearer, I believe you should wear a well fitting and supportive bra and pay money to have the best cut bras, no Primark cheapies for me! At Uni I specialised in lingerie fashion design and my final collections featured a beautiful and fun supportive bra for a larger young woman; due to a gap in the market for beautiful bra's for bigger girls at the time. As you can imagine the decision to go bra-less wasn't taken lightly! 

Super cute yellow jumpsuit and Ikan print bodysuit

Since discovering Manners London I have fallen in love with the brand for many reasons, the first being that I just love the garms, the second is the supportive super thick stretch jersey fabrics and the third is that this brand focuses on making women of all shapes and sizes feel great in their garms. The story behind the brand is rather empowering too. 

Not your average bodycon! 

Self taught, designer and mother Sally Mansfield was forced to use local tailors, whilst living in Bali to make up garms for her curvier figure, as shockingly the Balinese shops sizes (and Asian shops in general) wouldn't fit her! Are there no curvy women in Asia?? Apparently not!

Sally Mansfield founder and designer at Manners London

Sally became inspired to create her own brand after befriending her fave tailors and asking them to help her produce a micro fashion collection with dreams of becoming her own boss to give her more time to spend with her son. The collection was created to empower woman and to be more inclusive of plus sizes. To stay connected to Bali all of the originally designed prints are hand screen printed in Indonesia. 

It's time to burn those bra's! 

On her return to London, Sally sold these amazing garms at Portabello and Spitalfields Markets, gaining inspiring and loyal customers along the way. Sally says the best part of her Manner London journey has been meeting so many beautiful, powerful, interesting, kind and strong women along the way! What an inspiration! 

I am a keen promoter of independent designers and Manners London is definitely my current obsession! 

Manners London Jumpsuits featuring No Debutante's fave red racer stripe want! 

There are so many amazing garms to be found from deep back bodycon dresses, flared trousers, pencils skirts with thick and supportive comfy waistbands, more jumpsuits, (I have my eye on the red go faster stripe style jumpsuit next) crop tops, wrap tops, leggings, bodysuits and the big trend of the year the Bardot top dress! All in flattering hot reds or blacks or in various prints from tropical leaves, to my fave Esk prints (in monochrome or super cute yellow and white) to beautiful fish (Ikan) prints.

Bodycon dresses with the shape of the summer  - The Bardot shoulder

Want to feel supported, empowered and glamorous without the restrictions of a bra? Free yourself and get over to Manners London now or regret it forever! 

Buy your Manners garms here www.mannersldn.com

No Debutante Loves Manners London! 

All photos (except the one's featuring No Debutante) courtesy of Manners London.

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

No Debutante promotes fashion independents, new designers & sustainable fashion. 

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

DJ Queens and girl squad dreams

It's been a very busy and hot hot hot few weeks in Bristol.

I got to guest DJ alongside a group of amazing females at the Frau DJs Unofficial Pride Party this weekend, Bristol was buzzing from Pride and everyone was covered in glitter and rainbows.

DJing at the Fraud DJ's Unofficial Pride party at Hy-Brasil in Bristol

I had the best time playing my set and felt really empowered DJing with lots of women who are so encouraging and supportive. Don't get me wrong I love DJing with my own DJ collective Bang too (consisting of my husband Phil and my brother Mike). I am very comfortable with them for obvious reasons, plus we've been DJing together for years. It's just a different dynamic with girls, like a girl gang or a squad, it's empowering!

The amaze Frau DJs Zoe and Katie

Everyone celebrates Pride now, it's like everyone wearing glitter at festivals, it's just what we do. It is really great that Pride is so inclusive, supported and loved but will it get so popular that the point is being missed? Primark are even selling Pride t-shirts, has Pride gone mainstream? Oh no that's just the corporate fat cats cashing in again!

I guess it's not for me to say as I am neither LGBTQ+ but as a feminist I believe in equality for everyone and I love rainbows. Oh fuck it! Let's all just celebrate Pride and not worry about it.

No Debutante's rainbow fueled Pride outfit

Another thing we do well here in Bristol is celebrate carnival, St Paul's Carnival to be precise, it's all bright colours, big outfits, even bigger sound-systems and of course rum. This year we celebrated it's 50th year as Bristol's Afro-Caribbean carnival!

Pre-party drinks in the sunshine in rainbow stripes, florals and leopard prints

Rum Cocks!

Carnival was the week before Pride and my two of my besties from my own girl squad 'The Rach(a)el's' where in town. Sadly, we had made other plans and only got a brief carnival tour this year, I managed to fill them up with rum and we then moved onwards for a great Bristol pub crawl.  The streets were rammed, England had just got into the semi finals of the World Cup (which is where we stayed unfortunately) and Bristol was buzzing! It got messy.....it always does.

The Rum Ba-Ba's girl squad

Caught by the fuzz at St Paul's Carnival in Bristol

Next weekend we celebrate the Harbour Festival and my band the Mono Dots will be playing on the Grain Barge boat on Saturday 21 July from 9.30pm. Come check us out if you are in the area. We kick ass! I look forward to a third weekend of partying! What you lot been up to?

All photography by No Debutante 

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

No Debutante promotes fashion independents, new designers & sustainable fashion. 

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

hello DODO crop top challenge

I was super stoked to have been chosen by the cute as kittens, hello DODO designers to rep their fun label. The challenge was to style up one of their cute printed crop tops No Debutante stylee in three different ways.

The hello DODO team of playful printmakers and designers are Jam and Ali from Worthing near Brighton. This creative duo are also married (how cute is this?) and with a mutual love of fun (and self-proclaimed silly) bold graphics, create bright and fun artwork to make people smile. Their products range from cards, pins, patches and of course t-shirts and come in a mix of bright colours and super cute prints (mainly cute animals) with a cheeky little message on each design.

I had no idea which print or colour I was going to get so it was a fun surprise when I landed their Keep on Raven design on a crisp white crop top.

The crop top is a perfect boxy fit and the length is just right too, showing off just enough flesh and is very flattering. It's also a great cut, which is a real important factor for me.  I wear my waists high so this tee pairs nicely with the shorts and trousers, that seem to be my current fashion faves at the mo. 

hello DODO are all about colour and fun so they were already right up my fashion street, so challenge accepted and here is what happened.....

Outfit 1 - Casual Cute

hello DODO crop top worn with abstract shapes print culottes from The White Pepper, white Adidas sports socks, Reebok Classics and earrings by Tezla Designs.

Outfit 2 - Culture Vulture

 hello DODO crop tee worn with Adidas joggers, double scarf head wrap-vintage, perspex & pom-pom earrings by Mango Tango Jewellery, socks as before and Adidas sliders. 

Outfit 3 - Street stylin'

hello DODO crop tee worn with shorts by Tail End X OTR, earrings, socks and sliders as before.

Outfit 4 - Polka-dots & Pink Jellies

hello DODO crop tee worn with polka-dot trousers by Monki, socks as before worn rolled down, pink jelly shoes by Sun Jellies, female symbol earrings by Zedhead Headwear.

Outfit 5 - Sheer Sports

hello DODO crop tee worn with sheer slip dress from Urban Outfitters, joggers,socks, sliders and earrings as before.

Outfit 6 - Summertime vibes

hello DODO crop tee worn with vintage Levis cut offs and sunnies from The White Pepper.




Well, that was fun! Let me know your favourite look!

Thanks so much to hello DODO for choosing me for their styling challenge! There will deffo be more where this comes from featuring the hello DODO t-shirt so watch this space! 

If you want to get your hands on some hello DODO cuteness get yourselves over to the hello DODO Etsy shop
Follow hello DODO on Instagram and Facebook 

All photography by No Debutante 

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

No Debutante promotes fashion independents, new designers & sustainable fashion. 

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