STYLED: Statement Jeans

“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful. Alice Walker

Location: Belvoir Forest 

I think we can all become guilty of ignoring and not appreciating our surroundings, you forget how incredible your surroundings can be. I live only about 30 minutes away from Belvior forest but I could probably count on one hand how many times I have actually visited. However I changed that by dragging mum down for a brief stroll through after a gym session, there is something so therapeutic to just chill out and unwind with a good long walk anywhere.

Last year was the first time really statement jeans came back onto the scene and I immediately fell in love with these Alice and You beautys! I got them on ASOS last year and I remember they were in and around £39 although I do remember getting some sort of discount on them. £39 is alot for jeans for me personally but for the amount of wear I have gotten out of them they have definitely been worth the investment. I was rather shocked that something so statement has been surprisingly easy to style, usually I wear them with a simple raglan tee and trainers but they also work with a black shirt and metallic heels which is good as thats how I chose to style them today.

Details:

Bomber Jacket- H&M sale

Black pj style shirt- Evans Clothing

Alice and You statement jeans- ASOS

Fishnet tights- Primark

Silver block heels – New Look sale

Glasses- Specsavers men’s Tokyo frames

A massive shoutout to Sharon and Chloe in Pure Beaut Reflex for giving me the most incredible mermaid lilac ombre nails. I have gone to Sharon for all my nail needs for years and I am never ever dissapointed.

P.S

The reality of on location blogging is a tad less glamorous than you would think!

BYTAYLORJAYNE

STYLED: Underpasses

“She is a figure of legend and fairy tale, one to be taken seriously, or she might knock you off your feet with a quick whirl of the staff she carries everywhere.”
― Claire Wong, The Runaway

Location: Wine shipment direct building 

Another week passes and another dodgy car park in the back end of Belfast city centre is seemingly the ideal location to shoot my outfit. I have to say that the inspiration behind this was totally down to seeing local stylist Eve Brannon shooting here earlier in the week, as soon as I saw her instagram post about it I knew I had to go for myself.  The Legend wall was created by the #BelfastBanksy Glen Mollloy Creative and features ten images of legends both alive and dead.

Finding new locations is pretty difficult I mean Belfast is such an incredible location in itself my issue is nearly always trying to find locations that are accessible to someone who doesn’t drive. Instagram and social media in general is such an incredible tool as I follow so many local creatives it is great to be able to see what is inspiring those around me and trying to create my own original concepts using influence I take from those who inspire me, I have an ode to instagram post planned for the upcoming months so stay tuned for that!

I’m the dandy highwayman so sick of easy fashion
the clumsy boots, peek-a-boo roots that people think so dashing

MINI STORY: One thing I love about shooting out and about on the streets of Belfast is the reaction of those around for example shooting on an electrical box in a dodgy car park the loveliest women came up and asked mum and I if we wanted her to photograph us together, I dont think she really understood why we would choose this location and its pretty difficult to explain blogging to someone who has no idea at all what it is.

Details:

Distressed denim jacket- Primark new season

Black dip hem dress- super old Evans clothing

Fishnets- Primark

Khaki Boots- Primark

Chub rub shorts- Evans ( you will understand if you see the P.s Pick!)

Glasses- Specsavers Horace frames ( from the mens section !)

P.S

I had to include this picture to highlight that despite trying to act all cool in front of the camera the reality of actually putting together an outfit post is so much more ugly and real. For example it look three attempts to get my fat ass onto this electrical box all whilst the owner of the car in-front was probably in fits of laughter but hey, my whole view is that I probably wont ever see these people again so who cares if I flash my chub rub shorts at them now !

BYTAYLORJAYNE

STYLED: Girls Just wanna have Fun

“Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” —G.D. Anderson

Location: Sunflower Bar Belfast

Sticking with this weeks theme of International Women’s Day I have another graffiti based outfit. Again this yellow jacket that hasn’t left my body since I bought it was the inspiration but the rest of the look and post all came together by chance. I knew that alongside central library there was a particular yellow wall that I wanted to shoot against but then spending five minutes exploring the area I came across probably easily my new favourite piece by French lady graffiti artist Kashink.

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN…DAMENTAL RIGHTS !!! ( Insert 100 flame emojis because that is the type of person I am)

For me another major event that I followed recently was the women’s marches all over America the day after Cheeto potato man became their president. One story that immediately got me hooked was the flash mob led by LA based singer MILCK  the song connected me in a way I haven’t found I have come across in a long time. It was one of those moments that I get in life that was along the lines of, this is my new battle cry and I need this permanently put onto my body asap! Maybe most people don’t react to things in that way but I do so I booked in with one of the best tattoo lady I have come across, Caila Dagger who is based out of A sailors grave in Belfast ( Please check them out HERE  the are a bad-ass bunch of phenomenal tattooers!) .What makes this tattoo even more special to me is that I reached out to Connie aka MILCK on twitter. It is was the night before my appointment and I was finalising the font choice, I decided to try my luck and tweet her asking her to put it into her own handwriting and to my delight she was so excited about the prospect and sent me a bunch of designs. My mum also go the same tattoo and we both agreed immediately on this version of the quote, ONE WOMAN RIOT. My right arm is a scrapbook of memories and the quote just seemed to fill the space between a coat hanger and a canary perfectly.I intend to one day do a post about all my tattoos but that is for another day once I have a few smaller fillers added!

“I can’t keep quite, A one woman riot!”

Details:

Yellow Faux leather Jacket- New look

Nirvana T-shirt- Primark men ( with about half a bottle of bleach thrown at it at home)

Denim Culottes- Simply Be last year

Bag- Zara

Two tone aviator glasses- Ebay ( about £2 including delivery!)

Holographic trainers- Primark

BYTAYLORJAYNE

STYLED: Spring Vibes

 

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” Luther Burbank

Location: Palm House- Botanic Gardens 

Some scenes just don’t need filtered, you may have noticed from my previous posts that I usually try to pick a theme colour for a post and filter the images to all link however when shooting in such a beautiful location I couldn’t possibly choose one colour to try and represent everything that I had seen so no filters today. The Palm house in Botanic gardens is a must see, it is not huge or vast but it is very beautiful. There is also a tropical house but currently it is undergoing a major face lift and isn’t accessible.

I cant be the only person to get an idea and become almost neurotic about it until I can do it. I have been planning this post and this outfit since I decided to begin blogging again but it had become such a pressure because I wanted to do it justice. If I hadn’t mentioned before it is my mum that is my assistant, photographer, collaborator and my everything. she helps with the ideas and the look for each shoot but with no DSLR knowledge she willingly comes with me every time I want to shoot and helps me to create images that I am very proud of.

Unless you did not follow me on any other social medias you might not realise that Gucci is my everything at the minute. They are killing it time after time and each show tops the last. The sequins, glitter and styling is everything I love and as soon as I spied this skirt in the Next sale I got instant GUCCI Vibes. It is actually very easy to style and I do plan on creating a plus size Gucci inspired lookbook very soon and I will show another more Maximal way to style the skirt with other prints to get the authentic Gucci feel however on a daily basis I love it with basic band tees and trainers or as I have done here with the neutral tones throughout the rest of the look to make it the focal point.

Details:

Embroidered bomber Jacket- Evans Clothing SALE

Grey high neck top- Primark

Black vest top- Evans

Glitter skirt- Next SALE

Earrings- Topshop SALE

Tights- Primark

Gucci Loafers- Primark

BYTAYLORJAYNE

STYLED: as the sun goes down

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
― Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds

Location: Botanic Gardens 

Certain places in Belfast just seem to hold so many memories for me. One of them is the Botanic gardens and the Ulster Museum but today I am focusing on the botanical gardens, ever since I can remember bank holidays, summer breaks and weekends have been spent there.

I also wanted to take a minute to showcase this beautiful faux leather jacket. If you follow me on Instagram ( I’m@by_taylorjayne) you will know that last week I spotted this jacket in New look and couldn’t leave the shop without it. It is £40 but was on offer at £30 and I couldn’t say no. I have been after a faux leather jacket forever and was looking to invest in  a black version however as soon as I saw this bright mustard yellow my heart skipped a beat and I knew it was coming home with me. For someone who wears alot of blacks and darker tones it is the perfect statement piece but I also find it works just as well with my brighter outfits. I have linked the green version down below as I know currently online they only offer red, green and silver. I know it will become a wardrobe staple of mine during the Spring and Summer months but I am loving it just as much right now !

Rings L to R 

Scarab- Museum Gift shop Lips- Topshop- Gold- Topshop Signet- Topshop Silver with stone- Primark Snake- Topshop Silver heart- Primark 

Details:

Jacket- New Look Curves OTHER COLOUR HERE

Rust pink high neck top- Primark

Navy O ring dress- Zara Sale

Tights- Primark

White Trainers-Topshop

BYTAYLORJAYNE

BONUS DOGGO PIC- THIS WAS WILLOW 🙂 

STYLED: the definition of art

“People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish… but that’s only if it’s done properly.”
― Banksy, Wall and Piece

Location: The MAC gallery / St Anne’s square

 

When I have a day off I love nothing more than going out and exploring. anyone who knows me in real life knows I cannot sit still and I defiantly don’t like to be doing nothing with my time so I decided to drag mum out and head down the the MAC. What I love about the MAC apart from the galleries within it is the location. It is my favorite part of Belfast because I could just spend hours walking around the streets looking at all the graffiti. I love spending any free time I can doing this and sometimes I even go into the MAC itself to see what exhibitions are currently running.

Something that has always appealed to me having spent the majority of my education focusing on art to some degree whether it was at GSCE or A level, an art foundation course or my Fashion degree is the definition of what we actually class as art.

I spent the day in a gallery and also in the biggest gallery of all, the streets. I have used graffiti in alot of projects so perhaps I do have a biased opinion because I love it so much but it is such a public way to access art, you just have to walk around and you will understand someones opinions, beliefs, loves and hates so directly. If it was up to me I would spend all my time walking, reading and learning how people feel.

50 SHADES OF PINK 

Details:

Khaki Coat- Tesco

Pink high neck top- Primark

IRON MAIDEN top- Primark Mens

Ripped Boyfriend jeans- ASOS curve ( heavily customised by me!)

Tights- Primark

Black Brogues- Stradivarius

Backpack- Primark

Pom Poms keyrings – Stradivarius

BYTAYLORJAYNE

STYLED: easy breezy

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. Dolly Parton

Location: Waterfront 

I spent three years walking between the city centre and titanic quarter for Uni so I know this area like the back of my hand. The big fish is a classic sightseeing spot which has been around for as long as I can remember. We are still in that freezing winter period because I don’t know if you know but if you are not from Northern Ireland then you probably won’t. we unlike the rest of the world have two seasons, cold rain and warm rain. I may seem like I am joking but it is true unfortunately! So it is still a coat and jacket weather and will be until about April.

 

I actually ended up loving what the wind was doing in the pictures and just went with it!

Details:

Camo boyfriend coat- River Island ( OLD SEASONS)

Jacket- New Look Curves

Grey high neck top – Primark

Ripped Knee Skinny jeans- Evans

Tights- Primark

Gold Boots- Topshop Sale

BYTAYLORJAYNE

Beauty Minute: Natural Collection Lipsticks

So I decided to keep things short and sweet today, I wanted to talk to you guys about my latest beauty obsession, natural collection. I am still remembering being about 14 and using my pocket money to buy natural collection eyeliners and eye shadows because at the time it was all I could afford. Fast forward several years and I cant remember exactly who but I watched a video where someone was praising natural collections range of brown toned lipsticks and not being one to want to invest big money into beauty trends I thought these were the perfect way to do it.

The four colours I have picked up are:

Heather- a very shimmery light brown which when applied is more subtle a brown hue than the other colours.

Biscuit- a your lips but better light browny nude pink shade

Cedar-  a medium brown tone, great if you are a bit scared to go all out brown with your lip colour

Hazelnut- my personal favourite a very true orange tone brown shade which I love against my hair colour at the minute

Cedar on the lips 

Overall I am really impressed with these lip colours for the bargain price of £1.99 each they are a great way to try brown lipsticks without having to pay alot of money incase you don’t like the look on you. They are not the most long lasting colours however I put one coat of Lipcote over the top and they then last at least 6 hours or more without any fade or change in colour. I would definitely recommend that if you are wanting to try a brown tone colour.

Hope you guys found this a little bit helpful

Until  next time…T-J xo

Karma Jewellery: Blogger Workshop

On Tuesday the 28th October the lovely people at Karma Jewellery invited a group of local bloggers to a karma workshop where we would get the opportunity to make some of our very own karma pieces. Karma jewellery is a brand under the bigger company of Argento who I did a post about a couple of weeks ago. Karma’s main ethos is to be a local created range that works alot with charity, and whats better these days than supporting local business!

I decided for a change instead of just snapping photos of the event I would go back to my roots and put together a short video about the event.

 

I have to say  a HUGE thank you to the lovely team at Karma for creating such a wonderful event!

Until next time… TJ xo

Belfast Fashion Week A/W 14: #selfiegameisstrong

Quick Warning: This is going to be a very picture heavy post so you have been warned!

I have been a part of the backstage crew for the last eight seasons, I have seen it go from strength to strength and I have to say hands down this season has been one of my favourites so far. We were based in the Life church venue on Bruce street in Belfast city centre. This proved to be a great centralised location and meant that any issues that arose with security tags being left on etc. could be resolved in a matter of minutes. The location itself was very beautiful indeed with everything from amazing quirky jam jars lights to chair used as shelves nailed to the walls. The space really lent itself very well to hosting a fashion show and gave retailers a  great shop the show space outside the main catwalk area.

My involvement with fashion week started on Wednesday morning when I went on over to castlecourt to help out John Gerard (  @astylistsopinion on Instagram) to put together and finish pulling the castlecourt rounds for Saturday nights high street showcase. We where based out of an old unit in the centre which made our jobs so much easier because a lot of time has to go into organising clothes depending on model sizing and also what category’s we wanted to show E.g. head to toes glitz and winter garden greens. I had a lot of fun helping out as I have worked with castlecourt since the beginning of my volunteering days just over three years ago. Yes it is very stressful because we had 15 models, plus-size, men’s and children’s to put together and organise but when you see the looks hit the runway it is all totally worth all the time and effort you have put in.

Wednesday the 15th of October marked the official first night of A/W 14 at BFW it started with a charity screening of mean girls for the pretty in pink charity. The runway shows began on Thursday night with Excel clothing  showcase.  Excel is a company that I have to be honest I hadn’t heard of prior to the show but after a bit of research and seeing the amazing array of outfits on Thursday night it is definitely a brand that I would look to in the future, they stock everything from Vivienne Westwood to Belstaff and everything in-between.

During fashion week my primary role is as a dresser which means I work with a model to help them with their changes between each round, on Thursday I was working with the male models ( tough job but someone has to do it right!) I was paired up with Piaras who you might remember I worked with last season. We had 6 looks which included some amazing pieces from Armani and Hugo Boss but the jacket above with the built in sunglasses had to be my personal favourite look.

Probably the best bit of Thursday night and one of the best moments from the whole event was getting to me my idol aka HelenMelon aka Melon lady at the Excel showcase. Excel clothing had brought over Helen and Kavita ( who unfortunately I didn’t get a picture with) to see the showcase and also experience Belfast. I have been watching Helen on YouTube for years now and as soon as I saw her post on Instagram that she was coming to the show not going to lie I freaked out. It was so surreal and I know I bored the life out of everyone around me but I made it my nights goal to at least say hello. Helen was just so lovely even though I was a wee bit shaky around her she was lovely and agreed to a quick picture before the show. It still feels so surreal as I have been watching her for so long but if anyone is reading this THANK YOU excel for bringing the girls over for the show.

Another favourite Selfie from the week ( can you see a trend forming) is the first night I got reunited with my Partner in crime Rosanna AKA Silver Brogues . Rosanna and I have been working together since she started assisting at fashion week 3 season ago even though both of us agree it feels like so much longer. But you will see more of Rosanna throughout this post.

Friday night was local designers and Boutiques night and I was paired up with the stunning Mairead who again you should recognise if you saw my last seasons posts. This is probably one of my favourite nights because I love so many local designers, some highlights being Julia Sokele and Kate Wilson

Katie Wilsons parachute dress was probably my favourite piece from the whole show!

 

Myself and Mairead pre show

Press call

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur with early starts  and late finishes but I was able to document it all through a lot of photos hence the #selfiegameisstrong this is probably the best way to sum up the week. Selfies all over the show !

 

Did any of you guys attend any of the show what did you think? If you every want any advice about volunteering what to expect and who to email just email me at Gingersnapsvintage@yahoo.com

Until next time…Tj xo