A woman is wearing her politics not only on her sleeve, but also on her head, feet and body, in the run up to the Irish abortion referendum.
Taryn de Vere has decided to use fashion to prompt political conversation ahead of 25 May, when the Irish people will vote on whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment and end a constitutional ban on abortion.
Every morning, de Vere has put together a different outfit to promote the Yes campaign. “I stepped up my repeal the 8th themed fashion efforts when the No side began removing our Yes posters in the county I live in,” she tells HuffPost UK. “I was angry that they were not respecting our time and money and that they were trying to silence us. So I thought I could BE the posters and signs instead.”
De Vere is a parent of five, who has had one abortion by choice. She moved from Australia to Ireland 15 years ago and three of her children were born in Ireland.
She decided to share photos of her outfits to “lift the spirits of Yes campaigners”.
“I’m in a number of different repeal groups and some of the people in them are scared to even wear a badge, so I wanted to show them some solidarity,” she said.
“Some people are scared to show that they support repeal because of work or family, but my work are pro-choice and I don’t have any family other than my children, so I’m in a privileged position of being able to be completely over-the-top about my pro-choice stance – sometimes by literally wearing a Repeal the 8th sign on my head.”
De Vere’s outfits have proven to be a conversation starter. “I’ve had a couple of scary or aggressive encounters, but other than that most people seem to enjoy the colour and fun,” she says.
“It does make for some funny looks when I’m dropping my kids to school in the morning or picking them up, but I think most of the school community is used to me by now.”
“My kids are my main photographers and are used to me suddenly stopping the car because I spotted a good backdrop and asking one of them to take a pic of me, they are all good-natured about it and are all passionate activists themselves. Needless to say we don’t spend long on each shot!”
