Neelam Parveen is from the West Midlands.

Neelam has told us, "I’ve had an ambition in fashion ever since I was young. I grew up in an incredibly diverse community with different cultural influences in fashion. I take immense amusement in various of cultural fashion. Fashion has always been my interest when growing up; being creative with my clothes and designing them has always challenged me to become an individual person. I grew up making Barbie dolls dresses out of scrap material that was left over from which my mother used for dress making. I find fashion to be a way of expressing my personality. I am very enthusiastic about experimenting and doing innovative techniques with textiles. Designing has been a passion of mine for such a long time as I can remember, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Designing is a fun creative process. I enjoy the process of pattern drafting, constructing the garment and sewing. I was supremely inspired by my mother and as I grew up watching her sew clothes, knit and do hand embroidery on garments.  

I recently completed my Higher National Diploma at South and City College Birmingham where I have achieved Distinctions overall. A bit about my first collection that I have produced based on Multiple Personality Disorder my inspiration came from someone that I know, that’s extremely close to me is suffering from a disorder. Multiple personality disorder is known as dissociative identity disorder a mental illness that involves developing two or more identities within the person. These multiple personalities have the ability to take control of the person and what's more they have a great extent change from the primary identity. The person suffering from multiple personality disorder is developed in the early stages of childhood which results to having severe continuous trauma, neglect, stress, depression and abuse later in life. 

This disorder just not affect the person but can also affect people around them because they don’t know which side is the truthful side. The diagnosis for multiple personality disorder has turned into extreme controversial because the disorder is complicated to diagnose and it is provocative debate among the people with personal experience. Multiple personality disorder is hardly ever reported and has become more common in today’s society. Many people say that multiple personality disorder is not a mental illness as it’s not real. Many people reflect on that multiple personality disorder is a normal thing. I wanted to create a collection on this so I can make some sort of an awareness that people with personality disorder shouldn't feel ashamed or feel stigmatised about the fact they're suffering from multiple personalities and people should be clear about this mental health and understand more in relations to personality disorder. Not many are aware of this because it's mainly hidden away and not talked about the reason being they may not socially merge in with the society as they are different. After all were human beings and we all have our flaws. I kept the collection black and white showing the good and bad side of the person. I have independently showcased my graduate collection in Midlands Fashion Week 2016