“I used to have waist-length hair but 2 or 3 years ago, when I was in high school, I was feeling so stressed that I wanted to kill myself, and I cut it all off. That’s when I was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. It means you can’t control your emotions, you’re always getting too high or too low, and when you feel that low you just want to die.
“I think I was born with it – even as a child I’d go from being super-excited to not wanting to do anything or go anywhere. It made me feel abnormal and very shy. For a while I took medicine for it, but that didn’t make me feel so good so I stopped. I’ve loved art ever since my mum enrolled me in art classes in junior school, and that’s now my best therapy, along with my fashion design. Making things beautiful just makes me feel so great, and dressing differently is both a way to express myself and gives me a sense of control. I still get too high and too low, but I’ve made my peace with that. It’s probably something I will always have, but now it makes me feel special, and that actually makes me love it a little bit too.”
