Why Susanna Lau, aka Susie Bubble, only ever dressed for herself, never for boys

Hong Kong connection: I was born in 1983 in North London and grew up above a Chinese takeaway in Camden Town, run by my parents, who are originally from Hong Kong. I basically grew up watching neo-punks come in for their sweet and sour pork and absorbed that eclectic energy fairly early on.

It was a ramshackle upbringing, with rocky finances, but my parents always made it work and I never felt I was lacking. I have three younger sisters but I never felt like the eldest. My sisters are all very creative and know their own minds and, unusually for a Chinese family, have all ended up in the arts.

Soul sisters: My closest sister, Louisa, who sometimes got mistaken for my twin, was my mirror image in terms of our outfits. My mum just bought us matching ensembles in two colourways. Sometimes I’d be green, her pink. Sometimes yellow and purple. I think that has somehow influenced my penchant for super-matchy-matchy outfits and optimum colour coordination. Even today I’m always pedantically holding up things together going, “Hmm … are these two shades of green in the same tonal group?”

Style maven: I went to Henrietta Barnett, a very academic and rigid girl’s school, and in a Mean Girls set-up, I was definitely on the indie dork table. Indie dorks didn’t pull boys. We just sat around listening to Ash and Nirvana and figuring out how to tie-dye vintage slip dresses. In my secondary school yearbook, I was voted “Most likely to be … the next Donna Karan” (because clearly that was the only fashion frame of reference for whoever wrote the yearbook).

I became known for my “kooky” personal style, experimenting with vintage, layers and bringing back clothes from my holidays in Hong Kong and Asia. Even as we started going clubbing or out to bars, I never really got the concept of dressing to attract the opposite sex, hence I stuck out like a sore thumb. But who cares about boys when you have leg warmers in four colours?

Climbing the ladder: I graduated from University College London with a history degree and a complete lack of direction, hence why I fell into advertising – not the creative side, the account management side. It was a solid way of experiencing the rat race in London and kind of perfect for my early 20s and living in the city, but there was always something lacking so I started my blog, Style Bubble, on the side in 2006, sneaking in hours writing and posting, before work, on my lunch hour and after work.

It was my personal outlet for fashion, which I always thought of as a hobby. There wasn’t really a plan or a goal with it other than to write for the joy of writing. And to share within what was a tight-knit community of online fashion enthusiasts spawned from forums such as The Fashion Spot, where we discussed magazines, collections and the industry.