Chidera Eggerue

Chidera Eggerue (also known by her pen name, The Slumflower[1]) is a British Nigerian writer and fashion blogger. She is best known for her book, What a Time to Be Alone, and the online campaign #SaggyBoobsMatter.[1][2]

Chidera Eggerue
Eggerue in November 2017
BornDecember 1994 (age 25)
Pen nameThe Slumflower
OccupationWriter, speaker
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipBritish citizen
Home townPeckham, London, England
Genreself-help
Subjectself-love, fashion
Notable worksWhat a Time to Be Alone
Years active2017-present
Website
www.theslumflower.com

Early life

Eggerue was raised in Southeast London in Peckham, a neighborhood that is mostly British Nigerian.[3] Eggerue attended Goose Green Primary School. Eggerue then moved on to Kingsdale Foundation School for her secondary education. Her family is Igbo.[2] She attended college to study fashion design but was unable to finish her degree due to depression.[4]

Career

In 2017, Eggerue started #SaggyBoobsMatter, a hashtag that gained prominence on Twitter and Instagram, to challenge the convention that women with large breasts must wear a bra if their breasts sag.[3] As a teenager she felt insecure because her breasts did not look like a model on the packaging of her first bra.[3][5] She later decided to embrace her shape and posted a picture wearing a dress without a bra in September 2017, using the hashtag.[6] According to Eggerue, "โ€œThere is enough room for everybody in the body positivity movement. But we must work together to make room for those more marginalised than us.โ€ Eggerue has received backlash to the campaign. Early in 2018, one of her braless photos was turned into a meme that referred to her and another black woman as unattractive.[5] She has also been called an "attention seeker."[4]

She then started a blog called The Slumflower to highlight fashion that is not covered within the mainstream.[2] The name refers to the concept of a rose growing from concrete, and comes from the short film created by creative duo Street Etiquette.[7] The blog feature modern street style fashions that are affordable. She also writes on topics like friendship, dating, racism, and sexism.[3][8]

In early 2018, she hosted a Newsbeat documentary that explored hair loss and her own experiences with traction alopecia.[5] She cites Munroe Bergdorf, Renni Eddo Lodge and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as her biggest inspirations.[8] She was the creative director for Innclusive, a home rental organization that caters to a multiracial audience.

In January 2020 she presented a Channel 4 documentary Bring Back the Bush, examining why women shave their pubic hair.[9]

Works

What a Time to Be Alone

After being encouraged by her digital followers, Eggerue created a zine in Adobe InDesign[4] with advice on self-love. After positive reception, she started looking for a publisher.[4] Eggerue published a book called What a Time to be Alone: The Slumflower's Guide to Why You Are Already Enough in July 2018 under Quadrille Publishing.[1] A few days after publication the book became a Sunday Times bestseller.[10] The book focuses on self-love and contains advice on how young women can be happy alone. Eggerue uses Igbo proverbs throughout the book.[2][8] She recorded a Tedx Talk about self-love named after the book the same month it was released.[8]

How to Get Over a Boy

In February 2020 she published the book How To Get Over A Boy which gives advice on dating.[11][12]

Accolades

In 2018, she was chosen for the BBC 100 Women list.[13]

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References

  1. Pometsey, Olive (2018-07-24). "Chidera Eggerue, AKA The Slumflower, On How To Practice Self-Care Without Spending All Of Your Wages On Candles". ELLE. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  2. Khan, Coco (2018-07-11). "Writer Chidera Eggerue on what #SaggyBoobsMatter is really about". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  3. Yeginsu, Ceylan (2018-09-29). "Chidera Eggerue Has Some Tips (and Hashtags) for Self-Love". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  4. Pitcher, Laura; Sunnucks, Jack (2018-08-07). "chidera eggerue, aka 'the slumflower,' has released her first book". I-D. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  5. Dahir, Ikran. "This Woman Created The #SaggyBoobsMatter Movement And People Are Here For It". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  6. "Social media star Chidera Eggerue is showing other woman that #SaggyBoobsMatter". The Daily Dot. 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  7. "The Slumflower's guide to Peckham: London's coolest neighbourhood". The Guardian. 2018-12-03. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  8. Berrington, Katie. "Chidera Eggerue On Being A Force For Change". British Vogue. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  9. Feay, Suzi (24 January 2020). "Pubic hair makes a return in Bring Back the Bush on Channel 4". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  10. "Meet author, speaker and future ruler of the world Chidera Eggerue". Dazed. 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  11. Jonathan Dean (26 January 2020). "How To Get Over A Boy, According To Activist Chidera Eggerue, Aka The Slumflower". The Sunday Times.
  12. Josh Smith; Millie Feroze (17 February 2020). "The new faces of beauty: Meet the 11 inspirational cover stars of GLAMOUR's self-love issue". GlamourUK.
  13. "BBC 100 Women reveals list of inspiring activisits, mothers and CEOs around the world for 2018". The Independent. 2018-11-19. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
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