Christmas in East London.

The Girls Next Door

By Abbie Miranda

With their Christmas decorations going up, Beija grabbed the chance to shoot these 3 friends wrapped in tinsel and under twinkling fairy lights. Read more about them below and consider who of your friends or fam may enjoy some Beija London Lingerie under the Christmas tree!

Hi Katya, tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi, I am Katya, I am 22 and I am a final year Aeronautical Engineering student, studying at Imperial! I also model part-time, something which I began to explore during the pandemic, as I realised having a creative outlet when you're stuck in front of online learning all day is sooo valuable. I also love playing hockey (3 days a week) and I'm a Pilates fan too! It really helps stretch out those sore muscles and help my stability during those big cup matches, and is such a good meditation space too! :)

Tell us a bit about your friendship i.e how do you know each other, how long for etc

I have known Talisker since we were 9 - we went to primary school together! We've been besties this whole time, she knows me better than I know myself sometimes. Jay is Talisker's boyfriend's sister, and also her housemate! I met Jay this year when we all moved into the same apartment building together, and it's been love at first sight. I'm so lucky to have such a tight-knit group so close to hand, I don't know what I'd do without my neighbourly girl gang!

Why did you want to be part of this project?

I have been buying Beija lingerie for a while (throwback to Caught Up in black, my first Beija bra!) and have always loved the vibe of the brand, their friendly staff and outspokenness on social media and standing up for causes which make a difference. As someone with a smaller bust, I realise I have quite an easy time with buying lingerie, so couldn't wait to recommend Beija to my bustier gals and what better way to introduce them than via a lingerie shoot!  To come together and have fun again, after many anxious months isolated from each other, seemed like the most amazing way to celebrate our bodies, friendship and the start of the Christmas season!What’s your relationship like with your body?

I have had a very up and down relationship - being extremely slender as a young teenager, I didn't really know what to do when I started putting on weight as an adult! Being a tall woman, sometimes society makes you feel that you have to take up less space, and sadly the only way to do that is by being skinnier. But I've learnt to appreciate the strength of this body (hello, hockey butt!) and focus more on what it can achieve, rather than what size it fits.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Don't doubt yourself! You have as much of a right to be successful, in whatever you try, as anyone else. Stop self-sabotaging. Also, your friends are amazing and will always be there - again, let yourself be vulnerable with them!

Describe each other in three words. 

Talisker - Fiery, ambitious, caring. Jay - Warm, strong, loyal.

How did it feel doing a lingerie shoot together? 

Proper girl-boss experience! We've been joking that we'll tell our children about it when we're all middle aged, and pull up the photos of all the fun crazy things we did as young women. The atmosphere was super warm, it felt so comfortable to see each other looking so amazing in the lingerie.Hello Talisker, tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Talisker and I'm 22 years old. I spent a year working in the advertising industry as a strategist and I am now taking a short career break to spend some time for myself! I will be starting a job as a Geography Teacher Trainee in September. I have a huge passion for music, in particular jazz singing and playing piano.

Tell us a bit about your friendship.

I met Katya when I was 9 years old at school, I actually showed her around the school on her taster day! I remember thinking we were going to be great friends when on her first day, she agreed to come and play rugby with the boys at lunch break. Fast forward 12 years and we are still best friends and we now live only 6 floors apart in London.

How do you spend your time together?

We love getting ready together and going out. Having proper girl time together, music blaring, cocktails flowing and deciding which outfits to wear. On the flip side, we also love chilling out together and having dinner parties or takeaway with a bottle of wine and a rom com on the TV.

Why did you want to be part of this project?

Katya introduced us to Beija via Instagram and we instantly fell in love with their lingerie. As girls of all different sizes, it was rare to see a brand which caters for all of our sizes and makes bras which are so beautiful. Having bigger boobs, Jay and I find that lots of bras our size are very dull and ugly, so when we saw Beija's bigger bust sizes in such beautiful designs we were like YES. We also love that Beija shows such diversity in its models. I would never ever have thought of myself as a model, but when I saw Beija's pictures and saw women with bodies like mine, I thought 'I can do this'.

What’s your relationship like with your body?

I would say my relationship with my body now is quite good. When I was younger, I used to be a lot more critical about my body and always used to compare it to others. In particular, I used to hate my tummy, because it had rolls when I sat down and wasn't perfectly flat. I never used to let any of my partners touch it and I used to avoid them seeing it. When I look back, I realise how sad that was, but social media played such a massive role in setting expectations of what I thought my body should look like. One day I'd want to be slimmer and the next day more voluptuous, it felt exhausting. As I got older, I started to be more critical of the things I saw online, as well as unfollowing influencers that made me have unrealistic body expectations and replacing them with body positive influencers. I started to realise the beauty and strength of my body, that it was more than just an aesthetic object, it was a vessel that allowed me to live my life and that in itself was more beautiful than anything else. 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

There are two key things I would tell my younger self. Firstly, be fearless of failure. There are so many things I wish I had done when I was younger, but I was a perfectionist who always wanted to get things 100% right the first time. The truth is, it's near impossible to do that and by having that unrealistic expectation, I held myself back from trying things which I thought I might fail at. The beauty of life is that you get to try things, fail at them and then try again. The second thing I would tell my younger self is to NOT WORRY ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF YOU. When I say this, I don't mean to not be self reflective or take on board feedback, but rather to pursue the things you love and make the decisions that are right for you, not the decision that others think you should make.Hey Jay, tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm Jay, 24 years old and work in tech PR. Always loved communications and being able to tell a story which is why I studied PR and comms at uni and made it my career. I've also always had a love for music and self-taught (badly!) myself guitar and sing!

Tell us a bit about your friendship.

So I've known Talisker ever since she starting dating my brother a few years ago and after meeting up for double dates and drinks we actually moved in together - with my brother - this year which has been full of girly times. Moving also came with meeting the lovely Katya who I also clicked with straight away, both the girls are a dream.

How do you spend your time together?

Spending time together we are either eating and binge watching shows on the sofa or heading out, getting dressed up, singing and drinking on a night out. Two sides to the coin and I very much love both.

Why did you want to be part of this project?

I always love trying something new and this was such a lovely, wholesome gig that I couldn't wait to get behind especially with my two gal pals. Looking at Beija’s insta content and products I instantly fell in love.

What’s your relationship like with your body?

I'd say my relationship with my body is a bit like marmite - sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. It's definitely something I've always been working on but I am happy to say I rarely feel like it hate it now. I've always been the taller girl through school and even my friends are quite small which really made me conscious about how I thought my body should look. Truth be told, your body goes through so many experiences, changes and challenges but it gets me through and for that I am so grateful for it.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

The advice I would give to myself would be to just enjoy yourself. Your weight will change, your moods will change, your hair will change but those little moments are all you get.

Who are you looking forward to giving a gift to this year?

The easiest and also most fun person to gift is my sister - she's a mini version of me, but much cooler and fashionable - I just love treating her to something I know she'll love.

Have you ever purchased from the same lingerie brand before?

I don't actually think we have as a three but after this shoot we've made a pact to start fitting in a lingerie shopping trips because they're so fun. Although, having a similar size to Talisker we do often speak about good places we've found for buying bras.

How did it feel doing a lingerie shoot together? 

It was amazing to have my two beautiful friends beside me - we're already each other's hype women and they both made me feel so comfortable. I want to do one every week!Sign up for our newsletter here! And, feel welcome to email us at fitexperts@beija.london for fit, styling and gifting advice.

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