Every morning, sophomore Kristy Dawson brushes her teeth, eats her usual biscuit with butter and squeezes a wig cap over her head to prepare for one of her fifteen wigs to fit over it.

For Dawson, every outfit is a new experiment. She decorates herself in a multitude of colors, accessorizing with wigs complemented by bold eye makeup. Although she owns several different outfits to represent each mood, Dawson has not always kept such striking clothing in her closet. It was not until two years ago that she discovered the style that fits her.

“I was bullied in middle school really badly,” Dawson said. “People called me emo and goth. It got to the point where everybody was attacking me, calling me these things that I wasn’t. And in reality, I was trying to blend in with this group of people.”

Dawson realized she did not fit the stereotypical names she was called, and went on the search for new friends and music to match her personality.

“I became this entirely new person who’s made up of all these different cultures,” Dawson said. “[My friends and I] take things from Japan, Korea, Russia and Spain. It’s like a form of art: me piecing together things that people normally wouldn’t see together, and then liking it. We kind of create these original characters, but they’re a part of us, like an emotion.”