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| Streetstyle devotees No Debutante & Dilly Foxtrot on our recent meet up |
I met Selena when I lived in Leicester (where I also went to uni), at the time we both liked skate style & punk so were already on a similar fashion vibe, we then discovered Fruits, a Japanese street style book & magazine that featured quirky, Japanese kids from Tokyo, wearing the most amazing outfits. I was hooked from the moment I bought that book & went on a hunt to buy as many stripey long socks & brightly coloured tights as I could to perfect my Harajuku (the area in Tokyo where many of the Fruits photographs were taken) look. Independently to me, Selena was doing the same thing.
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| Winter layering featuring my new favourite polka dot trousers, a polo neck & a Fix Up Look Sharp sweatshirt. |
I am not as influenced by Tokyo fashion as I used to be, the original Harajuku scene ended years ago & Fruits Magazine,sadly, no longer exists. It was also kinda ruined a bit for both Selena & I by Gwen Stefani (who was one of Selena's style icons up until this point) Gwen in 2005, announced she had discovered a new look & started the Harajuku Lovers perfumes, had the 'Harajuku Girls' dancers in her shows & just completely took it for herself, Harajuku had gone mainstream, everyone was into it.
The Fruits style had been sold out to the corporate giants & whenever something starts 'trending' like that I immediately jump off the bandwagon. Selena and I were late-comers to the scene ourselves back in 2001, as the Harajuku style was first documented by Fruits creator & photographer Shoichi Aoki back in 1997. I, like a lot of people, wanted to remain unique in my style, so the popularisation of kawaii fashion was a fashion nightmare for me, the high street went Harajuku! Nooooo!
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| Selena rocking her layers in a mustard jumper & tights, with a cute monochrome shirt & camouflage shorts. "I got the shorts in the mens department in Primark" |
There is another side to the Fruits style that I am not too comfortable with; these Japanese kids were mass buying clothes, they were from comfortable backgrounds, had disposable incomes & nearly everything they wore was branded with labels from Vivienne Westwood to Super Lovers. It was more bling than the DIY kawaii-punk style that it first appeared to be; although the styling was amazing, there was a price to pay for kawaii fashion & that's not just lining the pockets of big brands, it was also wasteful, unsustainable & ethically bad. Disposable fashion is not something I want to be associated with.
I took my inspiration from the styling alone, there was no way I could afford Comme des Garcons & Jean Paul Gaultier, so I became inspired to make my own clothes & recreate the look mixing my existing wardrobe with clothes I had created & contemporary items from the high street. The Fruits styling was always about the accessories too, so that was another easier way to covet the style, I am highly inspired by streetstyle these days but the roots to my look stem from Fruits magazine & a need to wear playful, comfortable, non-conformist fashion.
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| Don't forget the twinning short crop pink hairdos - another fashion coincidence! |
Selena is also a fashion blogger & is known as Dilly Foxtrot Investigates in the blogging community, the blog is based around childrenswear, as Selena (like me) also used to be a childrenwear designer & (like me) had to put a hold on her fashion career to look after her (yes, like me again) three children (I told you we were fashion twins) & (there is a pattern emerging here.....like me) started a fashion blog to keep spreading the fashion love whilst looking after small children; blogging was a away in, to remain in the fashion industry & by any means necessary!
The Dilly Foxtrot Investigates blog covers topics from raising children to her latest fashion obsessions. I personally get just as much fashion inspo from childrenswear as I do from adult fashion, the colours, prints & shapes are always so playful, I'm gonna dress like a kid for the rest of my life! Being a blogger, Selena also gets it that I love to document what people wear, many friends like fashion but aren't too keen to have me sharing their looks on my instagram & blog, which I totally respect, Selena let's me photograph her which is inspiring & much more fun!
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| Modern vintage twinning back in 2003 |
Despite our love of playful styling Selena & I are still inspired by underground fashion trends & streetstyle, which is why, even after not seeing each other for a year, except on Instagram (which we both love), we still manage to have followed similar fashion routes & end up looking like we planned to dress the same way. It's laughable really, as we both get comments from people about the way we dress, we know we don't dress the same as the people around us but somehow we seem to follow the same fashion paths without being influenced by each other. As Selena put it at our most recent meet up "People think I am unique, that nobody else dresses like me but I tell them, there are thousands of people who dress like me, all over the world, I follow them on Instagram!".
We both agree that we love Instagram, it is so friendly, people actually talk & compliment you, there are so many different people to follow & it's great to connect with fashionistas all over the world who have the same fashion vision as you, which was a connection we didn't have before social media. This platform really works, if you don't get hung up on how many followers you have, blissfully ignore the false/ like for like followers & just follow people that generally inspire you, it will make you feel happy, supported & inspired in a positive safe place. Spread the fashion love we say & find your fashion twins they are in this big world somewhere, in their thousands!
All photography by No Debutante
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No Debutante promotes fashion independents, new designers & sustainable fashion.
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Emma Gorton-Ellicott
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Thanks for checking in Fashionistas
ND xx
