Feature: Tara Stewart

We caught up with Tara Stewart earlier this month. A podcaster, DJ with RTE 2FM, Instagrammer and TikTok mogul amongst other things, Stewart could only be described as multifaceted. We discussed everything from the beginnings of her distinct and curated personal style, being a creative in the modern day and the catch-22 of representation and responsible consumption.

How would you describe what you do?

I think these days you have to be a jack of all trades, and sometimes I’m like, ‘I wish I was an adult in the 80s or 90s when you could just have one career’, you know? But it’s not like that anymore unfortunately, especially when it comes to something in media and creative things. I would say I am a DJ, radio presenter and podcaster. An Instagrammer as well. I love Instagram and I use that to my advantage for all my other bits, so it’s all a circular thing.

Is Instagram an outlet or source of inspiration for you?

Definitely. Instagram and now even Tiktok is an amazing space for inspiration lately. My algorithm knows me very well now, so I’m getting lots of deadly thrifting girls and thrift hauls. Also Pinterest; I’m always on Pinterest for homeware and fashion inspiration. Instagram I love because I use it as my creative outlet.

I’ve always had a weird relationship with Instagram because sometimes I’m like, ‘no, I don’t want to get sucked into social media, I don’t want to have my life revolve around it, I want to live my real life’. Now with all of this happening, everything is online, it’s like real life isn’t actually happening. Having to adapt to being online is definitely what I’ve been doing more of.

Of all the careers you have had, do you think music has influenced your style the most?

Yeah, I’d say definitely. A lot of 90s stuff, that’s my jam, at the same time I love 80s style as well. I’d say pop culture; the old school VMA’s, music and movies. I think the fashion from then was really fun! Even in the 80s for men it just seemed to be a lot more flamboyant and adventurous. It’s funny how men were wearing whatever they wanted to wear, and it’s kind of gone a little bit backwards now. People talk about it as if it's a weird thing and it’s just started happening. You see on so many red carpets from back then, women wearing suits to award shows. People had more fun and didn’t really care what others thought. That’s why I like to take inspiration from that time.

Would you say that your style has evolved with your career?

When I was a teenager I was mostly doing music. I was wearing a mix between granny blazers with dramatic buttons but also a hippy, floral vibe. I didn’t really know who I was. I was also wearing skater shoes and jelly sandals because that’s what was cool back then! At the same time, I never really liked to define my style to a specific space. I love to wear hip hop inspired fooboo jackets and Yankee bombers and that Missy Elliot vibe but I also love to dress in a Clueless kind of vibe. That’s why fashion is so fun, you don’t have to have one specific aesthetic, everything that’s your taste you can totally mix it all together. Where I’m from, there was a K-Mart which is like Penney’s, and one Billabong surf shop. I wasn’t a big fan, so I used to shop in Vincent’s all the time and buy vintage granny clothes, which wasn’t a cool thing to do at the time. It was kind of embarrassing, but I loved it.

When I got into my early twenties, I moved here and was starting a new life, and my style went very basic. It’s no shade on people that want to wear minimal clothes, but I definitely didn’t really know what I wanted to wear. I kind of felt like, especially because I was working as a waitress, you can’t really express yourself in uniform. I thought, ‘what’s the point in wearing what you want outside of work?’. Waitressing was my identity for some reason. Eventually when I got out of waitressing and got more into music I went full circle and got back to a space where I could really express myself in fashion again. I guess I wore clothes that I always wanted to wear but weren’t accessible in Alice Springs. When bomber jackets and high waisted things became fashionable; to be able to get a high waisted jean when I was in my teens, that was impossible! Finding the likes of American Apparel was a dream at the time.

I think for many of us, the way we shop has evolved over the past few years. What are your shopping habits like?

I shop pretty much completely charity, thrift, vintage. I was never into fast fashion; all my friends are into vintage clothes, so it wasn’t a thing in my circle. I never really shopped on the high street.

Through DJ’ing, I was working for these fast fashion brands and they would offer me clothes, and when I saw that they were catering to larger sizes for on-trend stuff, that sold me. I thought the size inclusivity was amazing. It’s disappointing that only the fast fashion brands are size inclusive; I wish that more ethical brands were more size inclusive. It makes it harder for bigger sizes. I get the odd thing here and there from Monki, they offset their carbon emissions a lot, same with Collusion. They only do limited runs of their collections and they do it by seasons. They also do my size. I’m dying for House of Sunny and Paloma Wool to do my size. It’s so annoying!

Do you think the industry is getting more size inclusive?

In terms of fast fashion, yes. That’s the annoying thing. Like, I never want to shame anyone for having to buy fast fashion. Especially if they can’t get their size. I’m a size XL or size 16 and still House of Sunny and Paloma Wool don’t cater for my size. I’m not shading them because I love their stuff, but these are gorgeous, really popular sustainable brands that unfortunately aren’t catering to the bigger size. So the industry is becoming more size inclusive but it’s being done by the brands that are more damaging in another way, so it’s kind of a funny one. You’re being empowering and including more people on the outside but at the end of the day the clothes that are being sold aren’t being made in an ethical way.

It’s confusing because on paper you look like you’ve got a great ethos but behind the scenes you don’t.

On my podcast last week, I had a guest who owns a label called ‘We Are Kin’, she goes up to sizes 24/26, and one time when a girl asked her she made a size 30. But I think we all know by now that you need to make bigger patterns, the reason why lots of brands go up to size 12 is because you can use the one pattern. But these days people aren’t just that size.

It’s just like, pay workers the right wage, stop producing so much stuff as well.. I was listening to a really interesting podcast called Sweatpants Forever, talking about the fall of the fashion industry as it is. Saying that buyers are the reason why there’s such a huge demand for new collections, it’s not down to the consumer or designers. The designers have to keep up with buyers wanting exclusive collections in stores. At the end of the day consumers aren’t stupid but if you’re given all these new clothes all the time you’re obviously going to be like, ‘Deadly, I’m going to buy all these new clothes’. But I think if it was just pulled back, customers would be fine with that.

When you moved to Ireland, did you find that Dublin was more of an accepting environment than Alice Springs?

I don’t think I did get much inspiration from Alice Springs. I 100% had influences from the Dublin scene. Once I got into a clique that I liked, the creative people who were usually involved in, like, vintage stuff, art, NCAD, music people, once I got to know them my style really developed. Dublin was like my College, it was where I found myself. I grew up in a small town for 20 years and as much as I do love it, anyone from a small town will know it’s hard to really be yourself there.

I think many would consider you to be somebody that oozes confidence. How did you develop that?

I wasn’t confident for most of my life up until I was about 25; I was always annoyed that I was a bit curvier, and hated that I had hips and a tummy of some sort. I thought you had to cover up your body.

Something clicked in me one day when I saw this tight dress. I really liked it but thought I obviously couldn’t wear it, but then thought, ‘f*ck that, I’m actually just going to try it on’, and I looked at myself and thought I actually looked good.

It’s all these little things, when you’re like, ‘oh, my arms look too big’ or ‘there’s a bit of cellulite on my thigh’, it’s sh*t that no one notices or cares about. Every single person, no matter what body shape they are, has their idiosyncrasies. It’s crazy when your friend makes a comment about their body and you’re like, ‘are you insane?’But then you can’t put that sh*t on yourself. It’s so funny because as women, we always beat ourselves up and we have hormones to deal with every month so we become, like, three different people.

You mentioned that Dublin was like your college. What advice would you give to someone, maybe just starting college looking to be more confident with their style?

Obviously right now it’s hard to be around people in college. One of my favourite things is when you find someone with style you like on Instagram and then clicking the arrow down button to see similar accounts. Surround yourself online with people who inspire you, you like their style and their vibe. Every time you see an outfit that you like, save the outfit. Even Tik Tok honestly, when you get into the thrifting hauls, they’re actually amazing for inspiration.

I don’t want to encourage people to buy new stuff all the time, but if you’re in a space where you’re finding yourself and trying to figure out what style you want to have, go and find key pieces that you really want. Really try and figure out the style you want to have and go to buy those things. Start fresh, have a blank slate. Don’t think, ‘I couldn’t wear that though, she’s got this confidence’. She probably doesn’t. She probably feels the exact same way you do.

I personally find when I put an amazing outfit on and I walk out of the house, I just feel so good, it gives me so much confidence. I hate that people think fashion can be so frivolous and it doesn’t mean anything. It’s the first thing you see when you meet someone and it’s a way of figuring out who that person is without even talking to them. It’s a way of expressing who you are.

Which vintage/charity shops would you recommend for students?

I would say, Dublin Vintage Factory Kilo Store, they’ve just opened a new one in Temple Bar and it’s 20 euro for a kilo. The Nine Crows Thrift Shop, off Pembroke Row, there are 5, 10 or 20 euro stickers.

For charity shopping, Rathmines is the best. NCBI and St Vincents, and they’re cheaper than in town.

Age Action on Camden Street is my favourite place, it’s so cheap. George’s Street is fantastic.

Greystones also have great designer stuff.

You have many strings to your bow as a creative. Would you have tips for breaking into a creative industry?

Don’t be afraid to get down on your knees and really get to work. It’s a funny one because I worked for free for a long time before I started doing what I really wanted. That’s a great way to learn.

Normally I would go to gigs all the time and meet new people from the scene. That’s how I got to know so many musicians. In something like radio or TV, find out who works there - I mean the decision makers.

Send in demos, ask if you can meet up for coffee or a Zoom and chat to them, pick their brain.

Going down that route is really long, it’s not easy and I feel like especially these days it’s hard to get jobs. Have a bit more patience. Put yourself out there. Get to know people online.. When I started out Facebook was cool. It was a great way to get to know people; networking online is such an easy and great tool. It wasn’t around a long time ago, so take advantage of it. Don’t be disheartened if you get no’s, I got so many non-replies but eventually someone decided to take a shot for me.

You can tune into Tara at 20:00, Sunday to Thursday on RTE 2FM, and follow her on

Instagram, Twitter and TikTok @tarastewartdj