To The Moon In Style

As an alternative to the current, so called, Bristol Fashion week (all Malls, high street brands and celebrities) a collection of Bristol Female Fashionistas including myself, the lovely former buyer & stylist Gemma from the newly opened To The Moon Boutique/ Bar & sustainable fashion queen Helen Brown from Kecks Clothing are settling up a collaborative of Bristol based designers including, sustainable fashion label Antiform, to come together with other Bristol based fashion designers & creatives to promote all things Bristol Fashion, including sustainable fashion & streetwear to get Bristol on the Fashion map. Its not all about London after all...

Where Bristol Fashion is currently failing is not in creatively or talent, its a bubble of creativity and originality, the problem is, if we are going to compete with London as a leading city of Fashion, Bristol designers & creatives need to be supported by Bristol. London Fashion week is not all about high street fashion, it is about the independent designers themselves, London supports new and local talent, giving them a showcase to share their work and creativity with others. If Bristol Fashion designers were given the support from Bristol, the way London supports London Fashion, whether this would be through grants or independent sponsors, then it currently stands a chance at becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Fashion world.

The Independent Fashion Focus at To The Moon in Bristol is the first step in the process to getting Bristol noticed, the plan is to start up a Bristol Fashion Scene, arranging meet ups & events that's will bring everybody together & help with promotion & fashion events, which will lead up to a Bristol Fashion week that is real Bristol Fashion by Bristol Fashion designers and creatives. I think it is true to say that nothing at the current Bristol Fashion Week has anything to do with Bristol, except that it is based in a Mall in Bristol. All the garments in the Fashion show are from corporate high street brands, garments that are designed & made outside of Bristol & are massed produced to every high street around the world. Where is the creativity in that? Where is the Bristol in this fashion week???

Lizzie Harrison from Antiform is a perfect example of what is happening in the (currently secret) world of Bristol Fashion. Lizzie sources waste fabrics & off cuts from UK fabric manufacturers including lacemakers and knitwear companies, many of whom have supplied to great British Fashion institutions like Vivienne Westwood & Liberty, these are British craftsmen at their best. Some of these off cuts have been rejected by quality control for having small imperfections in them which would go to waste, luckily for Lizzie & Antiform, these manufacturers save many of their unused rolls of fabric which Lizzie then creates something new from a wasted product. The whole of the Antiform collections are made from sourced waste fabrics and trims, they are given a new lease of life, as well as being great for the environment, the nature of using small off cuts means that each garment will be unique & different, the cut of the garments will remain the same but each piece will be unique!

No Debutante buddy Helen Brown from Kecks Clothing also did one of her eye-opening talks on upcycling and reuse. Helen works closely with Bristol Textiles Recycling (BTR) promoting reuse by showing how we can all get involved with upcycling & generally saving the planet! Helen holds talks & workshops on upcycling & presents them at sustainable fashion events & also in schools, encouraging everyone to be aware & how to get involved. On this occasion Helen brought along a case full of wasted t-shirts that she had picked up from BTR who coincidentally receive over 4000 wasted tshirts a week! Which is shocking! Helen has many ideas on how you can reuse a tshirt on this occasion she showed us how you can turn a tshirt into a ball of yarn, which was fantastic! Helen also has a fashion line of upcycled & vintage items that she has creatively upcycled & rescued from landfill. These items are currently available at Emmaus in Bristol where Helen also has her studio.

Creatively & sustainably there is a lot going on in Bristol. Help us get Bristol on that fashion map by following all Bristol fashion designers & creatives on social media under #bristol #bristolfashion #fashiondesigners and Like and Share what they are doing. You don't have to be from Bristol to support Bristol fashion! Support Bristol Fashion!

If you would like to join us, get involved or help promote Bristol Fashion or know anybody rolling in money who may wish to help us out then please do get in touch.

Thanks so much to Gemma and Chris at To The Moon for holding the event & creating awareness to all things sustainable, shipshaped & Bristol fashion!! 

 Lizzie from Antiform introducing the new collection

 

Tiny strips of unused UK sourced trim make up the pattern on this Antiform Peasant Dress

 No D in Glitter knit Antiform top & vintage trousers from To The Moon Boutique

 Party Guests styling up To The Moon items for a Fashion challenge #tothemooninstyle

Ottowin Shoes handmade in Bristol...No D wants them in a bright pink!

 Helen from Kecks Clothing draws a crowd of Bristol & Bath fashion students for an upcycling presentation

My ladeez.....Gemma & Helen

All photography by No Debutante

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 No Debutante name #nodebutante

 Thanks for checking in Fashionistas xx

ND xx

To The Moon and back again

Due to the popularity of collabs, pop up stores and genre mash ups, I was interested to attend the To The Moon shop launch party in Bristol to see how a collaboration of a bar and fashion boutique works and what the inspiration was behind it.
All I knew was the recently opened To The Moon Bar (which is based in the up and coming Old Market area in Bristol) was a modern vintage inspired bar specialising in cocktails and locally sourced drinks. As the second part of their launch the To The Moon family planned to open a fashion boutique, next door to the bar, selling sustainable fashion (also locally sourced). I was intrigued to find out how this would work as a business venture especially since fashion and drinking are two of my favourite things!

I arrived alone at the busy To The Moon bar as we awaited the shop opening. The bar is tiny but quaint, I love little bars like this, I find them homely and friendly, it's impossible not to talk to people in these cosy spaces. I decided I would definitely come to the bar again but it was the fashion I was interested in on this occasion. The door to the side of the bar opened and we were in another adjoining room. The To The Moon boutique stocked bespoke, sustainable fashion garments, shoes, jewellery and accessories all handmade (yes, even the shoes) Gemma from To the moon explained that she wanted to find high fashion sustainable items rather than the ethically designed 'Hippy Mom' items in naturally dyed fabrics that are usually associated with sustainable fashion.
This is something that I (No Debutante) feel very strongly about too, why do things have to look like they are second hand or handmade (sometimes badly) to make it sustainable??. We can reuse without losing the quality of the structure, cut and styling, creating brand new pieces from something old. There is a lot happening in Bristol for sustainable fashion but the support for Bristol Fashion in general is not really there from anyone outside Bristol. Unless you are in London the top fashion mags are just not interested in you and your product. Perhaps it's because we are further away from the (so called) fashion hub and capital city London, that the editors are not likely to find us on their lunch breaks or perhaps they are just not interested, maybe too lazy (when they have everything on their doorstep), to find out what is going on further afield.

Gemma from To the Moon had come to the same conclusion as me about the lack of support for Bristol fashion, sustainable or not, despite Bristol being a creative Hub with a lot happening.
Jeez, Bristol Fashion week, is held at The Mall for shops in The Mall and any bloggers who are invited along are the type of Fashion bloggers who only buy from the High Street anyway, wearing regurgitated fashion that everyone else is wearing in the same way. Where is the creativity in that?

Clearly, if we want the job done properly we have to do it ourselves! Gemma has opened To The Moon to help Bristol fashion alongside other Bristol Fashion Boutiques including That Thing and Collab and even bloggers like myself, to encourage, represent and promote all things Bristol Fashion. 
I see great things emerging for Bristol Fashion and perhaps we will have our own version of Bristol Fashion week supported by local independent businesses and creatives in the near future. 

The To The Moon Boutique currently stocks Antiform, Jokoto, Red Bird Makes, Ottowin Footwear, Prior Made, Drum and Fife with hopes to showcase fashion students work and act as a creative hub for other designers to sell their products at the boutique. 

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

All photography by No Debutante

If you are interested in collaborating with No Debutante or getting featured on the No Debutante blog please contact me / send me a message on any of the following social networking platforms all under the No Debutante name #nodebutante


Keep up with No Debutantes OOTD posts, collabs and current fashion obsessions posted daily on all of the following. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr,  Pinterest.
Thanks for checking in Fashionistas xx
ND xx