Fabulous Nobodies: The Cult Classic Comedy Novel of 1980s New York City Fashion and Becoming Somebody

by Lee Tulloch

Before Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw, and the Shopaholic, it was a world of Fabulous Nobodies Now, back in print after fifteen years, it’s your chance to experience this hysterically wild cult-status novel for the first time. Get ready to Reality Nirvana Tuttle
A self-described "doorwhore" at one of Manhattan’s hottest clubs. She never gets up before 2 P.M. and has vivid, two-way conversations with every dress in her closet. Hugo "A Go-Go" Falk
Gossip columnist and documenter of all things fabulous in the fashion scene. This man is the key to turning Reality into a true Somebody. Phoebe Johnson
Junior shoe editor of Perfect Woman magazine who has dedicated her life to looking like Audrey Hepburn—and the one woman Reality can trust with her frocks. and Freddie Barnstable
A transvestite with an uncanny knack for finding fabulous fashions, and his sidekick, a little dog named Cristobal Balenciaga. These Fabulous Nobodies will take you on a quest to be Truly Somebody, in a city long gone but never to be New York City of the 1980s.

Genres: Fiction, Fashion, Chick Lit, New York, Comedy, Humor

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1989

About the author

Lee Tulloch a Capricorn with Sagittarius rising and an Aries moon, if you believe in these things. (She's ambivalent.) Perhaps, however, her stars do explain a restless life lived on three continents. A graduate in English Literature from Melbourne University, she made an unexpected foray into federal politics as a researcher before she began writing about fashion and popular culture for Vogue Australia. Since then, she has written extensively on the subject for international publications such as Vogue, Elle, Jalouse, Harper's Bazaar and New York magazine. While still a child, she became the founding editor of Harper's Bazaar Australia but was dismissed after nine issues for being a little too creative.

In 1985 she moved from Sydney to New York, where she wrote her first novel, Fabulous Nobodies, which has been published in several countries and to much acclaim. With her photographer husband, Tony Amos, she chose a bohemian life, moving between Australia, New York and Paris for more than a decade with their young daughter, Lolita. In Paris, she began her second novel, Wraith, a gothic tale of a dead supermodel who comes back to haunt her personal assistant. She completed it in New York and it was published in 1999. In 2001 she published her third novel, Two Shanes, a comedy of errors about an Australian surfer on Manhattan.

On September 11 2001 she was evacuated from her Tribeca home and left her beloved Manhattan for the relative peace of a Sydney beach. Her fourth novel, The Cutting, a murder mystery set on the Australian coast, was published in 2003. She is a columnist on fashion, beauty and popular culture for The Australian Women's Weekly, the (sydney) magazine and the (melbourne) magazine. Her next work is a collection of her fashion essays, Perfect Pink Polish, and she is completing her fifth novel.

She would rather be a torch singer than a writer but she can't sing and that's how it goes.

Her favourite frock is a black Azzedine Alaia from 1984, which her daughter Lolita now wears.

Reviews

[Karen Kae · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was fun at the beginning, but it got boring and draggy (and weird) when Reality started talking to her clothes. The dialogues weren't as funny as I hoped them to be. The first chapter was nice but the rest of it felt like the character was whining in my ear or doing a really poor diary journal.

At first, I thought the talking-to-clothes thing was intriguing. It was okay at the part about her shoes being thrown across the room but when I got to the part where she started talking to her coats and other clothes, it just felt weird.

It's a case of schizophrenia, if you'd ask me. I never read after that part. It felt like I would waste my hope and time of getting something better out of this. Whoops.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me sane through many boring law texts....I read it lots of times because it has all the ingredients of a fashion magazine but takes a sensible, sarcastic approach to it....and I love that her stupid love interest turned out to be some pretentious niche review writer pretending to be gay to advance his career & trendoid points & she had to "in" him back into the closet ...hahahha.....that is just sooooooo....tragic....it is hilarious! My family blame s this book for me refusing to be a lawyer! hahaha. (just joking! ) ceciliayu.com

[Hennypenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I reread it a number of times when I had access to it at the library, then I moved South and the author wasn't local enough for the "quirky local" section of the library nor best-selling enough for the rest of the library. By the time I returned North, the book had been de-accessioned and I couldn't remember the author or the title for years, just little wisps of character and plot. One day, I was describing my agony in not remembering the author or title, and more details returned the longer I wrote. The use of jizz as hair-gel was easy to remember, but Reality's full name and her profession and her Gina Lollobrigida dress (all of her clothes have their own individual personalities) and her Coco Chanel tattoo all started to occur to me. Not many books have so many incredibly silly wonderful touches that make them unique. Time enough had gone by that Google was invented and I could track down the book using these scraps of memory.

The author managed an entirely fresh voice with this book (1989), later Sophie Kinsella wrote Shop-a-holic (2000), Sparkle Hayter wrote her Robin Hudson novels (1994 and on) and Helen Fielding wrote Bridget Jones (1996) and a new genre name had to be invented for this type of book. (Although I hate the name Chick-Lit, this book is the earliest Chick-Lit I read.)

If this falls into your hands, read it.

[Beth Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

drivel

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fabulous Nobodies is a fun read. The main character, named Reality Nirvana Tuttle by her hippie mother, wears a different wig and outrageous dress (or "frock," as she would say) every day. She has named her all dresses and holds elaborate dialogues with them. She works on the door of a hot nightspot in the East Village of the 1980s, where she turns away would be club-goers who aren't fabulous enough. Her goal is to become a somebody, specifically by getting journalist Hugo Faulk to write about her in a local fashion magazine.

The highlights of the book are the grimy, eclectic NYC backdrop and Reality's non-stop mental parade of icon-inspired fashion ideas. I often found it hard to get through a single page, as I was constantly pausing to Google images like Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark or Ursula Andress in Dr. No. There were times that Tulloch got close to some High Fidelity-like insights about the futility of judging people on their taste rather than their values, but it never quite delivered on that deeper level.

[bubez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Favolose nullità" nell'edizione italiana Baldini Castoldi Dalai che si pregiava di essere l'unica disponibile al mondo all'epoca e la prima in molti anni. Ora è fuori catalogo da lustri.

[EJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow this did not age well. Re-read this for nostalgia reasons and whilst it gave me a little memory thrill, it is incredibly dated in attitude, language and topic. The description of frocks is exceptional however and it reminded middle aged me of 15 year old me, desperate to leave home and become a lion. Light, frothy read - good for sick days or beach days.

[msjoonee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long before chick lit was a genre unto itself, Lee Tulloch wrote the last word on it. Becky Bloomwood and Bridget Jones had nothing on Reality Nirvana Tuttle...a really fun, funny read!

[C.S. Burrough · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hysterical read had me giggling like a schoolgirl, quite some years ago. Laugh? I nearly bought a round. Fabulous Nobodies is described as 'a lighthearted yet devastatingly accurate social satire about the hip young fashion slaves of New York City's East Village in 1983'.

The screen adaptation was recently optioned, to be directed by R.J. Cutler, acclaimed director of the fashion documentary The September Issue, featuring Anna Wintour

I happened across the paperback as I sifted through pre-loved fashion in my local op shop one melancholy morning and was instinctively drawn to the cover. Snatched it up for a song, took it under my wing and whisked it off home in the rain. It was ravenously devoured with a bottle of wine and a funny cigarette.

In retrospect I clearly turned to it for remedial purposes when events in my life were so intensely gloomy that my more serious reading material (particularly my edge worn Jean Rhys collection) was a definite no-no.

For years I worked and partied with real people like Really, nightclub 'door bitches' who thought they ruled the world and had a duty to keep naffly attired trash out.

Might have been imagining things, maybe it was my 'medication', but seem to recall Really's fabulous little frocks having some rather camp, ongoing daily dialogue with each other in their closet (?)

Silly, silly, silly, but there's nothing wrong with that occasionally. Laughter is good for the soul - but, as Really would no doubt caution us, watch out for those laugh lines!

Once you 'get' the intent of the silliness you begin to see through it into witty, intelligent, well written satire ahead of is time.

People have called it pre-chick lit chick lit but I beg to differ - far from some of the churned out formulaic pulp that ended up in the chick lit pile, this is original, clever and unique.

I flicked through it again just recently when rummaging through my cupboard and mused to myself that it had not dated. Lee Tulloch is a smart, entertaining writer who seemingly saw no need to linger in this genre once she had worked this little gem out of her system.

I'll be at the movie with bells on. Bravo! Encore!

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this at first because it's supposed to take place in my neighborhood more or less, and I thought it'd be interesting to try to imagine living there in the past. Sometimes the story got a little slow, but for the most part it was a funny quick read. I really got engrossed at the end and probably enjoyed that and the afterword by the author the most.

Have passed it along to my little sister, who I think will thoroughly enjoy it, maybe even more than I did.

It was fun to imagine East Village in the 80's. Recommend for vacation reading.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took the trouble of ordering a back copy of this old fave from the 80s after my sister stole my copy last millennium. I had very fond memories. It saw me through some times - when I used to buy every copy of The Face and loved and adored Swing Out Sister and the like. Sad to say the book has not lived up to my memories and now reads a little, well, vapid, (whereas I used to think it most hilarious and sophisticated). Sigh. There are still some moments here, but sadly I think the zeitgeist has just transformed beyond recognition and the magic has gone. Ah well.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever and often silly look at a fashionista in 1980s NY. Entertaining but a little too fashion conscious for me -- although I did love that Reality named each of her 'frocks' and could hear them speak to her. I kept waiting for something more substantial to happy to Reality but alas...

As for Hugo? I'm having mixed feelings. At times I was exceptionally underwhelmed and others entirely baffled.

[The Casket · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book, written before the concept of chiclit' raised it's head. I love Reality's relationship with her dresses. It is set in New York in a time before mobiles etc. so you have to put yourself back there which adds to the enjoyment. If you are looking for something different maybe this would fit the bill.

[Bridget · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did you think the film Party Girl was too serious and had too much character development?
Is Holly Golightly too severe a character for you?
Do you have an obsession with the word frocks and think that name-dropping equals charm?
H-h-hello this is your book.

[Fatima Akhlaque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I won't say that i went totally blind for this book, I did check the reviews only after reading some of the early chapters of thks book and experiencing something very funny, interesting, light and entertaining to read.
I read mixed reviews of this book but I can surely say that believed in it and decided to keep on reading it and I am glad to say I didn't disappoint me. I grabbed this book after shoving it aside on my tbr list for so long ad found it very light and total engaging. I prefer this book to read when you have read something very heavy/ emotional/ dark/ captivating/ dearly/ something that you don't want to come out of.
I am suggesting this as a very fun and easy read because it is very subtle. It is not something you will care for or something that has sort of characters you will want to keep on holding but nevertheless any less or boring. It is a lovely and glamorous book.

[Mercedes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came upon this book in the most wonderful way. I was on a travel media trip in New Zealand and in my group was writer, Lee Tulloch. One evening over an amazing meal she regaled us with stories of when she lived in New York in the 1980s. One story in particular was about a nightclub door girl who refused Lee and a friend entry because they were supposedly “nobodies.” Lee said the interaction inspired her first fiction novel, Fabulous Nobodies. And as luck would have it, she had a copy on her, which she generously gifted to me.

It’s difficult to sum up a book like Fabulous Nobodies, it’s a unique book of its time and of its place - a very unique place. Set in 1980s East Village New York, the book predominantly follows Reality Nirvana Tuttle, who guards the front door of the Less is More nightclub ensuring only “somebodies” enter.

Reality is hyper-obsessed with fashion, naming her frocks and having conversations with them like they were her dearest friends. She and her friends are a product of the shallow world they live in, where being “known” and having a certain social standing is more important than almost anything else.

It was hard to like any of the characters in this book, though by the end, it’s also hard not to have an affection for Reality who gets chewed up and spat out by the shallow society she aspires to climb.

Of course, this book is a social commentary on the importance society places on the cult of personality, on being “known” to the public - and a book that may appear somewhat dated at first glance, but which heralds the approach of social media. It’s practically about being famous for being famous, a cult we are all too familiar with today. And to this end, Lee is supremely clever for capturing it, ahead of its time.

This is a fun, crazy romp through a bygone world captured perfectly by one who lived it. It’s an iconic book that deserves all the attention, just like its protagonist.

[Sherri Denora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this based on a recommendation by the author Marian Keyes -- whom I absolutely adore. I can see why Marian recommended it as it is all about fashion and how we use it to express ourselves, find ourselves, judge others, etc. BUT, this book made me absolutely dizzy at all the fashion references. I'm loaning it to my daughter as she has studied fashion, but I'm not sure she's going to get all the references. Although if she is a true Reality young lady, she should know all the fashion icons by heart, right? If you love fashion, but don't take it too seriously, you'll love this book.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good 3.5 but I gave it 4 because I'm in a good mood.

Full of zingers and funny situations, the book revolves around a girl named Reality who lives a fabulous life. She has fabulous friends, fabulous frocks and a fabulous job at a club. She is young, fun and full of funny insights about her life in the 1980s in New York City.

I liked the book, even if I found it tiring at points with its countless descriptions of dresses, shoes and wigs. Also, some of the narrative reads differently in 2021 and it was slightly uncomfortable at points.

[Gafas Amarillas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo que empieza siendo una maravilla para cualquier fashionista con muchísimas referencias y un listado enorme de prendas, marcas, conjuntos, diseñadoras e iconos de estilo de todos los tiempos... Al avanzar el libre se convierte en un despropósito tedioso, estirado sin motivo y sin gracia y con un acto final que ha envejecido fatal porque ya incluso en su época se basaba en un concepto rancio. Parecía una novela fresca, despreocupada y algo juguetona y termina siendo una propuesta que hace un flaco favor al mundo de la moda y sus protagonistas.

[Lozz’s Random Reads McKenzie - Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book at 15.
It will always have a special place on my book shelf, and a special place in my heart.

This book was before Gossip Girl, and it introduced me to the wonderful, colourful, world of the LGBTQI community.

It also told my 15 year old self you don’t have to be a “SOMEBODY “ to be
FABULOUS!!!

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Full of wit, intelligence and satire of absurd and intriguing characters. Such a great and fun read!

[Rebekah McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not usually a book I would read however I am happy I did, it was a light hearted easy ready with dry humour and abruptness I can get around. Not one I would read again however good for a quick read

[Barbara]

Old book

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a cult classic. Could use a little more substance, but I think that's part of the point. The character journey is well-done though

[Ozma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Avon Trade re-published this pre-chick lit, 1990s classic in 2006, having unearthed this gem out of the mines of unheralded literature. This edition is accompanied by a "Little Black Book", which is a section of the book in the back with additional material, basically an essay by the author about how the novel came about. The novel is about a group of New Yorkers, in the 1990s, who think they are fabulous, are into clothes and clubbing and being "fabulous." And that's pretty much it. Not much deep thought here, and I did often wonder, what is this book about, when is this set, why don't the characters just text each other? Then I realized, this is set in the past! Not to mention that it was written before "Sex and the City." It's truly a harbinger/precursor to "Sex and the City" and is minus the sex, which is not a bad deduction in my opinion (the discussion of clothing makes up for it!). The main character considers her dresses (or "frocks" as she calls them) like her roommates or friends. They speak to her and often demand to be worn out or worn to a party etc. When the main character loses her job as the door person at one of the city's hottest clubs (for not letting Jackie O in, whom she didn't recognized and felt was underdressed), she converts her shabby (and not chic) apartment into her own club with her cross-dressing roommate. To become semi-famous, she semi-stalks a gay magazine columnist who only writes about fabulous people. This is about it in terms of plot. If this novel were a steak, it would be strip steak: reliably good, not beefy but no disappointing. The best part was really the author's essay at the end. Also, the closing paragraphs were really great, and I will re-type a few lines here, and please know that, in my opinion, it really is the pinnacle of the book, hearkening back to the main character's lust for a Chanel suit, that when she finally got the chance to try on, she then realized didn't look all that great on her: "I depend on my frocks...To help me adapt to the changing face of the world I live in. I don't know how I'd get on without them...When I die and get recycled, I can always come back as the perfect Chanel person: thin and tanned and brunette with long wrists and neck for all those gold chains. I'll wait until then." Very Carrie Bradshaw but a little different, a little loca/crazy, and that's a fun twist. If Amazon offers you free shipping on this, it's not a bad choice.

[Sophia Sun P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mmm… I picked up this book in a bargain bin since the cover really caught my eye. The silhouette of a girl on red, with the repetitive “Fabulous Nobodies” spoke to my visual sensibilities.

Plus the back cover promised me the first Carrie Bradshaw and Bridget Jones who I really liked for the most part, but Reality Nirvana? I found her and her friends annoying, vapid, narcissistic in the worst way (is there a good way?) and just distasteful. Then I remember she’s 20 and think “Oh yeah, it all adds up.” I remember moving out to a big city, living in a dive, thrifting, honing my look, dating equally selfish boys and not wishing, but KNOWING one day I would be “discovered” and everyone would follow my every move like lambs. And I thought it all so amazing and fabulous to boot! So I started to recognize a sort of shameful kin-like connection, and I felt for her – slightly annoyed by it, but I did!

I did really loved the way author went into detail about the other personalities in the book, the frocks! I could visualize them!

What did take me by surprise was her opposite! My radar is usually very very good, but even fooled me! And I found the reveal to unexpectedly endearing.

In the end I found Reality and her clan to be silly, a little misguided, perhaps out of touch, but funny. Plus it is a piece that is dripping with parody more than any sort of real reality – no pun intended. Wouldn’t go out of the way to pick it up, but if it lands on your lap it’s a breezy read – helps if you appreciate fashion and have some wild friends of your own though!

[Abigail Melchior · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this nineties novel Tulloch satires the frivolity of the club scene in New York during that era. The main character is a door girl at a popular club and judges peoples' worth based on their fashion choices and how much attention they get in the gossip columns. After she makes the tragic error of not recognizing a high profile person and turning them away at the door of the club, she loses her job and therefore her power in the night life social circles. She proceeds to try and claw her way back up from social obscurity by desperate acts and shallow friendships.

In her effort to poke fun and ridicule the misbegotten importance placed on fashion and society during this time Tulloch has created some truly outrageous characters and scenarios. Unfortunately, the story has surpassed humorous and ventured into a level of bizarre that as a contemporary reader into 2024 I found unappealing and absurd. I am willing to acknowledge that perhaps much of this writing just didn't age well and I may have found it more relevant had I been a firs- hand spectator of this scene in the 90s.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time I have read this since the early '90s. Have saved my copy all these years and moved it everywhere with me, sure it was among my favorites. While I did still ultimately like it, 51YO me found it way less enthralling than 25YO me. Guessing I realized even then that Reality was over-the-top self-centered, but I could relate to her more in my carefree, love-my-vintage frock days. Now the superficiality of it wears on me. And Hugo is pretty much a d**k - that he becomes the boyfriend comes out of left field (though they are certainly suited for each other).

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was hard to know how to rate this book since I loathed it as I was reading it. It was just too bizarre and sad to read about a woman who named her clothes and whose most important aim in life was getting into the right nightclub. But we had the most lively discussion about this fluffy little book in our book group and even thought I read it years ago - it still comes up in some of our discussions.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Billed as "Sex and the City" before Carrie Bradshaw came on the scene, this is a parody of the New York fashion and club scene in the 80s. It received rave reviews, but I found it a bit difficult to get through. Perhaps because of my overall lack of interest in fashion and what's "in" at the time. Or maybe I'm just picky about parodies!