Ella Webster is a rising Instagram star and New Zealand's Miss Pinup title holder known as Miss Victory Violet. She found success through Instagram where her daily vintage outfit posts and beauty tips have earned her over 21,000 followers. Her pinup style and advocacy of body positivity have helped her overcome body image issues from her past. After being crowned Miss Pinup NZ, she is poised for international recognition in 2015 as she continues inspiring others with her message of self-love.

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t’s Saturday morning at the Alexandra
Park showgrounds and the annual Very
Vintage Day Out is in full swing. It might
still be early, but the well-turned-out crowds
have already arrived in force.
While they swarm around the market
stalls oohing and aahing over the incredible
selection of authentic and reproduction ‘40s
and ‘50s dresses on offer, the soon-to-be-
crowned Miss Pinup New Zealand wanders
among the fray, stopping every so often
to let an excited fan snap a selfie with her.
Resplendent in one of her signature purple
floral dresses, mint pumps, a matching mint
Lux De Ville purse, and her raven locks
curled á la Dita Von Teese, Ella Webster – aka
Miss Victory Violet – is a vision of polished
pin up perfection.
Miss Pinup New Zealand and rising
Instagram star Ella Webster talks blogging,
modelling, and how she conquered her
body image demons. By Natasha François.
COVER STORY
All images in this article: MissT Pinups.

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G LO RY D AY S | I S S U E 9 G LO RY D AY S | I S S U E 9
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few hours later, as she makes her
grand entrance on the Miss Pinup
New Zealand stage, the audience
erupts into loud screams of approval. Looking
like a young Vivien Leigh in a bespoke
emerald gown and elbow-length gloves, she
sweeps across the stage and blows a kiss to
the crowd. Cue more screams. So no one is
really surprised when Miss Pinup NZ MC
Miss La Vida eventually slides a satin sash
around Miss Victory Violet’s neck, and gives
her a congratulatory kiss on the cheek. More
screams from the audience. Before anyone
can move, a circle of photographers and well-
wishers descends upon the contestants. The
new Miss Pinup New Zealand hugs her friends
and family and sheds a few happy tears.
MissVictoryVioletmightnotbeahousehold
name yet but in just a few short years, she
has carved out a niche in the local pinup
scene as a model, blogger and vintage hair
and makeup guru and now seems poised for
international stardom. Her success is largely
thanks to Instagram, the social networking
photo sharing app which has around 200
million active users who post some 65 million
photographs daily on the site. Instagram is
known for its legions of hipster fans and has
been adopted by a growing cohort of vintage
and pinup enthusiasts.
In less than three years, the 25-year-old
digital native’s daily outfit pics have gained
a cult following, spawning a blog and a
burgeoning pinup modelling profile in the
process. Her eye for colour, obsession with
matching accessories and generosity with
sharing her beauty secrets have struck a
chord with fans across the internet. She’s
refreshingly honest with how long it takes
her to get ready – she doesn’t pretend to be
perfect or that it’s possible to do a flawless
hair and makeup job in five minutes. She
regularly posts no-makeup selfies and has
days off styling her hair.
As this story was being written, her
Instagram account clocked up more than
21,000 followers. This might seem small in
comparison to the likes of Kim Kardashian
who have millions of sycophantic followers
monitoring their every move. But unlike
these celebrity show ponies, you won’t see
her sporting a duck face, flaunting an oiled-
up derriere or posting about sordid antics
online. Rather, with her flawless porcelain
skin, rolled blue-black fringe and striking
vintage-inspired ensembles, she’s become the
poster girl for a classy but glamorous brand
of femininity and an outspoken advocate for
body positivity and self love.
A familiar face on blog rolls, Facebook
pages, Pinterest feeds and YouTube videos,
Miss Victory Violet has modelled for The
Yellow Brick Road and Rita Sue Clothing and
almost every local pinup photographer under
the sun. She’s even had a dress named after
her by California-based reproduction super
brand Pin Up Girl Clothing. She’s graced
pinup calendars and magazines, was named
Miss Classic 2013 and is regularly approached
to endorse pinup-related products.
Glory Days met Ella on a sunny November
morning. She showed up at my door dressed
to the nines in a pink and green floral Bernie
Dexter swing dress and fluffy pink petticoat,
her hair swept into a high bun, with faux
bangs in front, and a whole fiesta’s worth of
hair flowers pinned on her head. It’s hard not
to feel a tad scruffy in the presence of such
immaculate grooming. But she’s sweet and
down to earth so it’s easy to feel at ease.
So how does it feel to hit more than 20,000
followers on Instagram? “It’s bizarre,” she says
shaking her head. “None of this I expected
at all. Gosh when I first hit 500 people on
Instagram I was like, ‘Woah that’s a lot of
people!’ That’s the lovely thing about pictures,
you can connect with people in so many ways.
That’s the reason why I love Instagram. A
picture says a thousand words. I’m not really
that good with status updates whereas with a
photo I can say what I want to say but it’s more
visual and not as in-your-face.”
The blog (Miss Victory Violet.com) was a
2014 New Year’s resolution. “It’s probably the
only New Year’s resolution that I kept,” she
laughs. “In the first week I started up my blog,
I also filmed my first YouTube tutorial. I guess
the blog was just a platform for me to expand
on things that have worked for me and share
them with my followers.”
Despite her prolific online presence, Miss
Victory Violet seems to have sidestepped a
lot of the negativity and trolling that other
pinup pages attract. For example, plus-size
blogger and model Tess Munster’s page,
and the petite Oklahoma pinup model The
Vintage Doll are bombarded with vitriolic
comments and trolling on what seems like
a daily basis.
“TessMunsterandTheVintageDollareboth
completely different ends of the spectrum.
They’re both really well known and they have
huge amount of followers (both have more
than half a million). I think when you reach
that kind of scale, you get all these people who
are just there to be trolls. So that does worry
me sometimes.”
Does she ever get guys making inappropriate
remarks? “Yep I just block and delete them.
Someone once commented that I had cankles
– and that was very early on. I don’t want
to respond– I just ban them and delete the
comment.” She says if she’s having a bad
day, the negative comments can get to her
more but she always tries hard to remain
COVER STORY
"That’sthelovelythingaboutpictures,you
can connect with people in so many ways."

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fter leaving school, Ella enrolled
at university and began a Bachelor
of Arts. She soon found the lecture
theatre structure stifling and began itching to
find something more creative. “Looking back
I always liked creative and hands-on stuff. I
realised uni was not going to work.”
But as soon as she decided to pursue
something she loved, all the pieces starting
falling into place. “I thought ‘ hair’ and then
a month later I was doing it.” She started
studying hairdressing at The Cut Above,
where her tutors took a keen interest in her
development and showed her techniques
that weren’t in the curriculum. In her second
year of training, she landed a job at Killer
Hair, in Newton. This month she toasts four
years working at the salon and credits her
workmates for being incredibly supportive
during her pinup journey.
“If I’d been in a different salon, say where
you have to wear black or had to stifle your
style, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.
They celebrate your uniqueness and so I was
able to show up to work in a new 50s-style
dress and they loved it.”
Her husband and best friend Matt has
been there before, during and after her
pinup transformation. The couple met
when they were 16 and tied the knot around
eight months ago. She’s says when she first
presented the new pinup version of herself
to friends and family, the response was
overwhelmingly positive. “They loved it.
They were a bit surprised because it was such
a dramatic change. But Matt liked it, he really
liked it. I think it’s because I was happy and I
finally liked the way I looked.”
“We met when we were 16 so it’s nice to have
had someone throughout all of that. He’s been
amazing. He likes the things that I think are
the most jiggly. He’s really proud of me and is
always asking what I’m going to do next.”
Tocelebratethemassiveprogressshe’smade
with conquering her body image demons, in
2014 Ella decided to organise the inaugural
Mirror Mirror body confidence seminar
to help spread the message of acceptance
and self love. It was a huge success so she’s
planning follow up sessions this year.
“The experience taught me that if you
dream something you can actually do it. So
it was so cool to go through that process and
to have people tell me it was inspiring. I’m
so glad I was able to do that and I definitely
want to do more. The more we talk about
body image and women’s bodies and different
body shapes then the less people will judge or
believe that you have to be super slim to be
beautiful. The super slim ones are beautiful
– that’s the other side of the spectrum – I’m
sick of skinny hatred too.”
So what is it about vintage culture and style
that she loves enough to live it every day? Is it
like playing dressups as an adult?
“Hahaha, yeah, it’s just fun. Again it’s a
creative process and I like to try new things.
I was talking to someone recently who was
really nervous about entering the Miss Pinup
pageant and just being up there as her. And I
was like, “Just be your pinup persona then!”
Fake it till you make it? “That’s what I have
to do when I MC. A few years ago I would
have been terrified to stand in front of people
but suddenly when it was Miss Victory Violet
speaking, it gave me a bit more confidence to
be in front of all these people because that’s
how they know me. I guess I do that a bit
when I’m modelling too.”
How does Ella feel when she looks back
on some of her photo shoots from the early
days? “Just that I didn’t know how to pose
really. It’s quite interesting seeing my early
photos, seeing the way that I held myself.
Now I know my angles.”
Now that her confidence is at an all-time
high, she’s planning on stepping things up a
notch in 2015.
“I’m feeling pretty good. There are a few
things I want to do with the blog next year.
It’s all really exciting. I can’t wait to go back to
Viva Las Vegas next year, and I have entered
Miss Viva La Vegas.”
Isitweirdtoberecognisedinthesupermarket
by fans? “It’s so nice and really humbling
actually. I think part of my success is that I’m
just a Kiwi girl. I think a lot of girls assume
I’m from America. I might be a bit bigger if I
was in the States but then again, with so many
other girls doing what I’m doing, maybe I
wouldn’t. It’s been such a good year, I honestly
don’t know how this year’s going to top it.”
We’re delighted to welcome Miss Victory
Violet as Glory Days’ new beauty editor.
Her first column appears in Issue 10 (out
April 20).
positive. “I firmly believe that if you’re
going to be negative then you’re going to
invite negativity into your life. I’m the kind
of person who doesn’t like to upset anyone
even if they’ve upset me.”
2014 was one of the best years of Ella’s life
but she reckons if she woke up five years ago
and saw where she is today, she would never
believe it. “Five years ago I would have been
20 and that was when I was going through
a bit of an eating disorder.” What began as
a healthy diet and exercise regime quickly
turned into an obsession with exercising
and losing weight, until she discovered
pinup style and decided to embrace her
natural shape.
“The scale of what I went through is minor
compared so what some girls go through but
it was enough to totally shake me. So much
of where that came from was a control thing
– I think I felt it was the only thing I could
control at that point in time. But a lot of it was
that I was trying to wear mainstream clothing
– which is made straight up and down – and
trying to fit into this mainstream mould.”
Blessed with an enviable hourglass figure
(she has a 15” difference between her waist
and her hips) which is ideal for the wasp-
waisted fashions of yesteryear, it’s easy to
understand why she struggled to fit into mass
market fashions. “The clothes you find in the
shops really do shape your perception – and
I found everything very short so I was going
to have to wear leggings and I didn’t want to
have to do that. Nothing fit right and when
you’re trying to find things that flatter your
body while still being fashionable, it can be
demoralising.”
The transformation from mainstream
fashion to vintage pinup happened virtually
overnight. As a teenager she started slowly
incorporating vintage influences into her
wardrobe such as Bettie bangs, polka dots
and red lips. But one day after placing a large
order at American online boutique Pin Up
Girl Clothing.com, she became hooked on the
pinup style and has dressed this way ever since.
“I’ve done a complete 360. Five years ago
I would have hated the shape I am now. I
don’t even know what I weigh now because
I haven’t weighed myself since all that- but
I probably would have been about 20kg
lighter. So I was slim but I thought I was fat. I
thought I had cellulite and a big butt. Now I’d
like to be a bit more toned maybe and a little
more shaped but then I don’t want to lose any
weight because then most of my closet’s not
going to fit anymore.”
B
orn in 1990 in Auckland’s Mount
Eden, Ella Macedo was a Disney-
mad child who loved dressing up.
“We didn’t have a school uniform at [Mt
Eden Normal] school so I would show up at
school in my tutu, my Cinderella costume
and take a little harp. I also had mum Velcro
a bird to one of my T-shirts, like a pirate.”
However, when she got to high school, the
natural quirkiness that she had inherited
from her parents began to fade. “At school
[Baradene], all you want to do is fit in, you
want to be popular so all my quirkiness got
filtered out and now it’s kinda come back!”
She remembers at the age of 10 dumping
a whole pot of gel on her hair and slicking
it back and out over her shoulder “like a
news presenter”.
“I always had this love for doing my hair.
I kind of thought about hairdressing when
I was about 17 but at my school, they only
talked about going to uni and they didn’t
really talk about other options. Hair seemed
like it wasn’t academic enough.”
COVER STORY