Self Esteem On Body Image, Boobs And Her New Underwear Campaign

Despite having largely approached underwear shopping by occasionally purchasing those multipacks of knickers from M&S, I feel as though my late teens and early '20s were plagued by thoughts of lingerie. I attribute this slightly bizarre admission to the fact that, in a lot of media aimed at women during that time, talk of Victoria's Secret fashion shows, the models and what they ate – or rather didn't eat – dominated headlines. Certain types of underwear was, seemingly, only for those with the very 'best' bodies (read: impossibly slim, while also being strong, while also being 'feminine') and was always designed to be sexy. If any of us are still suffering from the hangover of seeing such messages again and again, a new underwear campaign will provide the exact antidote that you need.

Bluebella already counts Munroe Bergdorf and stars from Ru Paul's Drag Race among its campaign stars but today has announced the very appropriately-named Self Esteem as its new face. The singer and former Grazia cover star, otherwise known as Rebecca Lucy Taylor, is modelling Bluebella's spring/summer collection, featuring everything from wear-everyday lacy bras to body harnesses and suspenders.

For a woman who has spoken openly about struggling with disordered eatingand who has had to deal with body shaming, why did this campaign appeal to her? 'I did it to show I’m really proud of my body in underwear, and to celebrate the shape it is,' Taylor says. 'It feels political almost, like this is a protest.'

While it's fairly depressing that the sight of a size 14 woman (below the UK average) in her underwear still feels like a protest, thank goodness that the lingerie market is finally making underwear to cater to us, rather than to the male gaze that presided over the industry for so long. Along with the likes of Rihanna and her Savage x Fenty label, female-run Bluebella is disrupting the status quo, aiming to embolden women and just make them feel great in their knickers.

'I’m going to be wearing this stuff all year round,' Taylor says. '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.' Like so many women around the world, Taylor admits she has struggled with body image, often feeling like she needed to conceal herself: 'When I was younger, my boobs were this thing to be ashamed of. I got boobs early and I got a minimiser bra right away. My whole modus operandi was to hide them. I see now how sad that is. I was scared of them because they brought me attention that I didn't want and that made me frightened, but I didn't have any option but to have them.'

Such a sentiment rings true for so many because women's bodies are still subjected to a worrying level of scrutiny. They're also consistently reduced to trends, as though we can choose to alter our physical shape every season to suit fashion's latest obsession. This has only been made worse by the normalisation of surgical procedures like the Brazilian butt lift and powerful influencers like Kim Kardashian, who seemingly does change her shape when the feeling takes her. Bluebella's campaign, by contrast, wants to celebrate bodies for what they are – not what they could be.

'I didn't ask to have massive tits that are beautiful,' Taylor says, 'but I have them and I'm not going to be scared of them anymore. 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.'

As the artist behind an album entitled Prioritise Pleasure, there's really no better advocate for feeling fantastic in your underwear. But Taylor admits that, despite a new-found confidence, this photo shoot still had its difficulties.

'It was great, but I struggled in the way I knew I would. I was in fight or flight mode. There was a part of me that thought on the shoot, ‘oh no, I'm not happy’. You can progress so much but it doesn't stop the hard-wiring from being in you. The patriarchy and the system that's inside of me was saying, ‘I should have lost more weight for this.

'When I was a 28-year-old and I had a photoshoot like this coming up, I would have done really disordered eating and all of that bullshit, but I'm proud of myself that I didn't do that, and I want people to look at it and see themselves.'

Do not think that this is just another underwear collection marketed at Valentine's Day, however. As Taylor says, '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.'

Today is, apparently, Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. If there's one thing to cheer you up, however, it's this campaign. Fashion at large may still be struggling to re-shape itself into an industry that truly is for everyone, brands like Bluebella are letting us all feel fantastic in our own skin without compromise. And that is truly something to celebrate.