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 26)
Pen nameThe Slumflower
OccupationWriter, speaker
NationalityBritish
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, "“There is enough room for everybody in the body positivity movement. But we must work together to make room for those more marginalised than us.” 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]

Film and television

In early 2018, she hosted a Newsbeat documentary that explored hair loss and her own experiences with traction alopecia.[5] She cites Munroe Bergdorf, Reni 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]

Books

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]

In February 2020 she published How To Get Over A Boy, a self-help book that gives advice on dating.[11][12]

Works
  • 2018. What a Time to be Alone: The Slumflower's guide to why you are already enough. Publication date 26 July 2018, Quadrille Publishing. ISBN 9781787133143
  • 2020. How To Get Over A Boy. Publication date 6 February 2020, Hardie Grant Publishing. ISBN 9781787134812

Accolades

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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