Taryn de Vere is a designer and a single mom to 5 children who lives in the hills of Donegal in Ireland. She introduces herself on Instagram as “*Possibly* the most colourful woman in Ireland.” She recently went viral online for her challenge she created for January to get inspiration for her outfits from random things she found in her house.
Bored Panda reached out to Taryn to learn more about this idea and it was actually prompted by the rising numbers of Covid cases: “I decided to set myself a creative challenge for the month of January as there was so much coronavirus around that I thought it best to stay at home as much as possible. Thinking I was going to be stuck in the house, I decided to be inspired by my house.”
People from all over the world have seen the woman’s project and were fascinated by this original idea of playing with fashion. The response that Taryn had was very positive and she shares how she reacted to the unexpected attention she got: “I've been totally overwhelmed by the global response to my pictures. So many people have told me they wake up every day and check their Instagram to see what I'm dressed as that day. I've been on TV all over the world and have done interviews for print, online and radio stations in lots of different countries as well. Germany and the UK in particular seem to be really into what I'm doing, which is lovely. It feels wonderful to know that my creative styling is putting a smile on people's faces and bringing them a bit of joy at a difficult time for so many.”
The project started from dressing up as a sink unblocker. It seems random and in reality it was random. Taryn says “At the time I had this idea I was sitting in my bedroom looking into the ensuite and there was a bottle of sink unblocker on the floor and I thought to myself ‘I'll start by dressing as that.’”
To choose what to dress as the following day, Taryn just walks around her house and searches for something she could turn into an outfit. But she has a rule: “I've only picked items that I know I can do as my one rule for the challenge is that I'm not allowed to buy anything new for it, I have to use things I already own.”
The outfits are quite extravagant, but while talking to News Talk, she revealed that those outfits are her actual outfits of the day. It doesn’t seem really challenging for Taryn to wear colorful clothes, as is evident from her other posts on social media.
So we were wondering if there were any difficult parts to doing this every day. She told us, “Some of the outfits have had challenging aspects, like lids and writing. The writing is hard to replicate so I try to incorporate the font colours, usually as necklaces or belts.”
Despite the difficulties of composing the outfits, the designer thinks that this experience was beneficial to her. “The brilliant thing to have come out of this challenge for me has been learning to wear the clothes I already have in different ways. It's opened my mind to the multiple ways I can wear my clothes, and inspired me to try new things.”
It is evident from her words and the photos she shared that the woman had a lot of fun. Fashion is her passion and she would love for more people to not be afraid of this world. “I don't think enough people understand that fashion is supposed to be fun. Fashion is an opportunity to express yourself joyfully, too few people take up that opportunity. I'd love to see more people discovering that fashion can be fun and joyful.”
Taryn plans to continue with the challenge but this time it will have a twist, “Many of my followers have decided to join in on the 31st January using the hashtag #ObjectDressChallenge, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what other people come up with. Due to the success of the project and the demand for it to continue I'm extending it to February where I will be dressing as things in other people's houses.”
This time the outfits will have more meaning to them, as Taryn explains, “I'm asking people to send me a photo and the story of why that item is important to them, their family, culture or locality.”
Taryn also shares that she is thrilled to see how this challenge made her career flourish. “To fund this, I'll also be dressing up as items brands pay me to dress as. What started as a career break for me seems to have turned into a whole new career—soon I'll be able to say that I dress as objects for a living which is silly, hilarious and very on-brand for me!”
To see more from Taryn, you can follow her on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or YouTube. She also has an online store which you can check out here.
We would like to hear from you if you will be joining the challenge and which of the outfits you found the most spot-on. Leave us your thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to upvote your favorite outfits!
