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We don't know about you, but our underwear drawer has been somewhat neglected of late. With greying knickers and ill-fitting bras, it could do with some TLC and Self Esteem's sensational new lingerie campaign has arrived to provide us with some much-needed inspiration. The singer, also known as Rebecca Lucy Taylor, fronts the body positive campaign for Bluebella ahead of Valentine's Day, but this isn't a cutesy fashion move, she sees it as a "protest" against body shaming.
Modelling 13 different styles from the latest collection, Self Esteem chose to strip off to promote body confidence and celebrate all bodies. "I did it to show I'm really proud of my body in underwear, and to celebrate the shape it is. It feels political almost, like this is a protest," she tells Bluebella founder, Emily Bendell. "I'm going to be wearing this stuff all year round and I'm going to feel this confident all year round. It's all for me and the enjoyment of my own body, which is a gift."
While it's that time of year that we are often bombarded with new lingerie pushes and negligee products ahead of Valentine's Day, Self Esteem is keen to point out that she hates the occasion and doesn't think fancy underwear is a once-a-year opportunity. "I always say it's Valentine's Day every bloody day of the year in my mind. It seems stupid to me that there's anything in the calendar that can make people feel alone or not like anyone else. That drives me mad," she says.
"I'm going to feel this confident all year round. It's all for me and the enjoyment of my own body, which is a gift."
Taylor had previously been in folk duo, Slow Club, which split in 2017. She then adopted the moniker Self Esteem and embarked on a solo career, with her 2021 album "Prioritise Pleasure" nominated for the 2022 Mercury Prize. While her career has gone from strength to strength, the relationship she's had with her body has been a rollercoaster ride. "I didn't ask to have massive tits that are beautiful, but I have them and I'm not going to be scared of them anymore," she explains. "Nowadays fashion helps me have fun with the things that I'd previously been ashamed of, or thought weren't right, and lingerie now coincides with my music career and my art. The idea that women are scared that they haven't got boobs, or other women are scared that they have – when you actually think about it, that's just mental."
Just last week, Self Esteem tweeted on 11 Jan. about how she was the target of cruel jibes about the way she looks following an appearance on "The Late Late Show" with James Cordon. "American people are calling me fat on the internet. Which is whatever but I really do feel like it's a time warp here in terms of cultural societal expectations of femininity," she tweeted. "I've struggled with disordered eating my whole life and I cba to feel shite anymore about a body that is currently working perfectly well. I am no less talented or excellent because I'm heavier than a Hadid etc. I may gain or lose weight but jfc I dream of a day where it isn't a talking point."
Having had a difficult relationship with her body over the years, her inner strength and confidence continues to be a work in progress, admitting that posing on the photoshoot was certainly out of her comfort zone. "I was in fight or flight mode. It's like these are after-shock echoes of my old self," she reveals. "For everything positive that I say, I'm still experiencing the negative feelings and insecurities about my body – they are still there. But after the Bluebella shoot I was so proud of myself. I love these pictures and it feels like a real turning point."
Read on to see more of Self Esteem's campaign and buy some of the sets she so confidently models.