My 90s Wardrobe

It's no secret that I am nearly 40 years old, I could never have imagined as a teenager what my 40 year old self would be like but I'm not sure I would have believed that I would still own my teenage selfs clothing and be writing about it in my fashion blog. Fashion blogs didn't even exist when I was younger, hell, the Internet didn't exist when I was a teenager! 
So yeah, all the clothing (except for the footwear) in today's post where mine when I was a teenager, I discovered them in my loft about a year ago and knew I had to do a photo shoot for the blog of how I would style them up now. It has been a long time coming but here are they are worn No Debutante style circa 2015, I took the photographs in the evening and I kinda like the grainy, sepia effect on the photographs created by the low lighting in my loft and the shocking low quality flash on my Samsung Galaxy phone. I think it adds to the lo-fi, grungey 90s look of the shoot. 

As for the clothing itself, there are a few vintage pieces in there, that were vintage in the nineties too, the psychedelic floral maxi dress, the cord and plaid shirts and denim coat were all from vintage stores, my favourite used to be Uncle Sam's on Park Street in Bristol, which is still dressing Bristol's finest vintage lovers today and is coincidentally now owned by friends of mine. Funny how things turn out, isn't it?
 I was also a massive fan of a charity shops during the nineties and used to find no end of vintage Adidas and Fred Perry polos, charity shops are not as good as they used to be!! 
The contrast trim tees and dress were from my 90s favourites French Connection, Topshop and Westworld. The stripe skinny rib top is from Hennes (as H&M was known then), I owned so many skinny ribs, named skinny rib for the textured fine knit rib effect fabric which were worn skinny fit, the skinny t-shirt was a very important part of the mid to late nineties wardrobe and thanks to the return of all things nineties the skinny rib top itself is back with a vengeance on the high street in the from of crop tops and polo necks so go get yours now!

My husband and I did (or rather still do) own a fair bit of brown clothing from the 90s, (all vintage items from the 1970s) which was actually cool at the time, think Jarvis Cocker style indie retro geek chic. I have to confess that I am no longer a lover of brown clothing at all so I doubt these brown items will ever get to be reworn by No Debutante over the foreseeable future but being the fickle hoarding fashionista I am, one day, you never know......
I am a self confessed hoarder but ethically hoarding is a brilliant way reduce waste, save your clothes and upcycle them! So here's it is, My 90's Wardrobe worn and styled up over twenty years later xx

All clothing from 'No Debutante's 90's wardrobe ' except for the American Apparel socks, Dr Martens and pink platform Jellies from Primark. 

Photography and Styling by No Debutante


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ND xx

Nineties Teen Magazine Queen

As a teenager of the nineties I grew up with an obsession for fashion magazines. Before discovering Vogue, The Face, ID and Dazed and Confused, I was rather partial to a teen fashion magazine. My teen mag of choice was a UK publication named Looks, I know the name is pretty lame but the fashion stories were brilliant. Being a fashion student I pretty much ripped all my Looks mags to pieces, either adding images to the mass collage on my bedroom wall or using them for my ideas and inspirational fashion books, so sadly I have only remnants of my favourite teen magazine left! One thing Looks mag did start was my obsession with fashion, inspiring me to create my own versions of what I saw on the pages and later to design and make my own clothes and go to Fashion college. I had moved on to the higher fashion mags like Vogue by the time I was at fashion college but still found a lot of the fashion stories a bit limited, too grown up perhaps and needed more inspiration, I discovered the alternative street style fash clash mags like The Face and ID and began to mix their alternative anti fashion ideas with Vogue's trend dictated fashion stories to finally arrive at my fashion clash mash up style that I still follow today. Since my late nineties fashion bible, The Face Magazine (and Looks) fell to the demise of the magazine, followed by the arrival of the Internet and social networking in general, I am no longer inspired by magazines at all, I do not buy magazines, I can get everything I need from the Internet for free. It is such a shame that magazine culture seems to have fallen by the way side but it was inevitable, who wants to pay for something they can get for free? Despite this, I still buy the catwalk/ trend issues of Vogue,it's like a tradition to me now, so that's two, yes two, magazines bought a year! I also love to check out the latest catwalk shows on the the Vogue website but I don't really read the rest of the content on the site. Like I magpie, I know what I want from the site and don't have time to look at anything else, especially when I have all my social networking to keep on top of! 

The Internet didn't exist when I was a teenager and the only way I could get fashion inspiration was from Music videos, film, the TV and magazines, the magazines told you about the latest trends, how to wear them and most importantly, where to buy them. It sounds like fashion was dictated to you but you either took it as the way you must wear it or let it inspire you to create your own style using the fashion stories as inspiration. I was the latter.

 The loss of magazine culture as a whole is close to my heart and in a world where everything is so accessible, everyone is a DJ and everyone is famous through social media, I am not sure how the magazine will ever return as a media contender in the future.....

 

Back to the original topic of those nineties teen magazines, I remember 1970's fashion, old school 80's and grunge being major players for theses magazines followed by cute dolly style, Brit pop with skate girls and club culture by the end of the nineties. Think maxi skirts, plaid everything, flared hipster jeans, tight 70's tees, vintage Adidas jackets and tees, old school trainers, layering, Converse, jelly shoes, Dr Martens, pastel mini skirts and dresses, tees under dresses, flared cords and anything from the 70's! Don't forget centre partings, braids, topknots and short hair, I never wore nail varnish or plucked my eyebrows. I wore lots of mascara and was channelling Kate Moss, Bjork, Sarah Cracknell from St Etienne and Chloe Sevigny as my style icons.

 I have added a few examples of nineties fashion stories below sourced on Pinterest with images from Just Seventeen Magazine 1994 and Corinne Day for Vogue UK 1993. Perfect examples of the nineties style I remember and love.

Today's outfit was inspired by those nineties fashion magazines and features topknot buns, a layered tee under a short dress, the essential plaid shirt & Dr Martens. A contemporary but nostalgic look back in the nineties. My Nineties.

All clothing from H&M, Primark & Dr Martens

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ND xx

How No Debutante Wears A Pinafore Dress

I have always loved a pinafore dress, inspired by the sixties dolly girl style and of course the nineties revival, a pinafore worn layered over a tee and under another item is just perfect for Autumnal / Winter layers but a look that also works worn with a simple tee or vest in the summer months too. The late sixties and early seventies are a big thing right now so a pinafore or a sleeveless dress worn layered over a flouncy shirt is a perfect way to wear this look. If you don't have a bell or puff sleeved shirt, any shirt or tee will do, remember it's about layering and mixing trends here at the No Debutante blog!

So the two pinafore style dresses in question for today's post are a mock leather / bondage style pinafore skater dress from Primark and a denim Topshop slip dress. One worn with a shirt underneath and the other worn with a long sleeved top underneath with a plaid shirt layered over the top. Two different looks, two different days. Which is your favourite???

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Thanks for visiting fashionistas!

ND xx

Girls Gone Wild.......Nineties Inspired T-shirts and Denims

A look that was popular with No Debutante last week was t-shirts and denims, mainly skate or surf labelled t-shirts worn with a bit of nineties denim. 

The first outfit inspired by nineties layering and the BMX sports wear inspired Marc By Marc Jacobs collection (see last image below) by the street style queens Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley. Worn with a skinny long sleeve tee underneath my Vision Streetwear tee and the very nineties inspired short a-line denim skirt, platform ankle boots and braided hair to finish the look. A very No Debutante take on the look I'm sure you'll agree! 

Don't follow.....Get inspired people!

The second outfit also screams the nineties with an oversize Maui tee worn untucked over my tapered Mom jeans with spotty ankle socks, creeper shoes and a grungey oversized cardigan layered over the top. This is more of an androgynous look that anyone can rock despite the oversized and unfitted nature of the outfit.

Platform ankle boots and creeper heeled shoes were massive in the early nineties and it looks like they are here to stay for the next couple of seasons......an investment well worth making for this Winter!!! Plus for any of you who are still rocking skinny jeans and god forbid jeggings please put them aside and reach for the tapered jeans, boyfriend jeans and 1950s style jeans, wear them on or above the waist and turned up at the hem. Don't be afraid, they are more flattering than you think!

All clothing from Vision Streetwear, Topshop, Underground at Office and Primark.

All images by No Debutante except the last image from the Marc By Marc Jacobs AW 2014 collection, sourced from Dazeddigital.com on Pinterest.  

Thanks for checking in with No Debutante today, see you all again soon for some more fashionista fun xx

ND XX

Celebrity Skin

Today's personal style post seemed to be lacking usable images so I thought I'd try something new here at the No Debutante blog and mix my personal style images with similar style fashion images (all collected on my Pinterest boards) from recent fashion shoots and style icons. 

My look today is Grunge inspired, a plaid shirt and some denim cut offs with my blue hair in braids, a classic grunge look you may say but the grunge images I have chosen to complement today's personal style outfit are all very different. Some are true grunge images from the 1990s featuring the Queen of Grunge Courtney Love and Liv Tyler and some are contemporary grunge inspired fashion images from my Pinterest fashion board including fashion shoots from my new favourite shop The White Pepper (of course) and the contemporary thrift grunge champion Mind the Mustard (whom featured on the No Debutante blog last year as an inspiring grunge muse). The Grunge look for girls isn't just plaid shirts, long hair and Dr Martens, it is a style, not an item of clothing. For me, as a nineties teenager grunge was a mix of subcultures including Riot Grrrl, Rock chick, boho, Indie kid and punk, where anything goes except perfection and polished looks. If you are a perfection and polished grunge girl something has gone very wrong and you have probably missed the point entirely. Grunge does not have a uniform, the only thing that should remain is the nineties influence as this is where it all began. Check out the following images from some of my most recent Pinterest hoardings to see what I mean. 

All images from thewhitepepper.com, starfetti.tumblr.com, fashiongonerogue.com, little-touble-grrrl.tumblt.com, lookbook.nu/mindthemustard, fashiongrunge.com.

Thanks for joining me today fashionistas see you soon for more No Debutante fun!

 ND xx