How One British Teenager Spends Three Hours Turning Herself Into A Living Doll (PICTURES)

How One British Teenager Transforms Herself Into A Living Doll (PICTURES)

Blonde Katie Lawrence lives every day as a human doll - spending three hours each day perfecting the look.

The art student, from Camberwell, London, dresses in petticoats and pastel colours and admits to being obsessed with looking like a doll.

The 18-year-old spends hours studying Japanese culture and video games which inspire her look.

Katie scours London markets for outfits which she wears with exaggerated makeup to give her an artificial appearance.

She said: "When I walk down the street dressed like this people do a double take - some even ask to have their picture taken with me.

"I love the doll-like wide eyes that the animations have. l spend ages putting in circle lenses and two sets of false eyelashes to get the look.

"But it's important to me to look individual too, and that's where my piercings come in.

"And one day I'd love to have plastic surgery to get elf ears.

"To be honest I think real life dolls Valeria Lukyanova and Anastasiya Shpagina have taken the most boring parts from anime culture to create their looks."

Katie has five outfits costing around £80 each which she gets from stalls in Camden market.

However, the pretty teen says most of the money she gets from part time modelling jobs is spent on makeup.

She said: "I spend more than £200 a month on makeup but for me it's essential.

"I have thousands of products and use two foundations on my face at the same time.

"It can take up to three hours to do my makeup, but I don't mind.

"I wouldn't be me without my makeup."

Katie's makeup addiction began when she was 11, when her mum Jill Lawrence, 54, introduced her to lipgloss.

But Katie, who went to strict private school King's in Worcester where she grew up, wasn't allowed to wear makeup in the classroom.

It wasn't until Katie left school that she felt she could finally be herself.

What Katie looks like without make-up

Katie said: "Even though I was bullied at school for being individual, I never wanted to conform.

"Dressing like this makes me happy and I wouldn't change it for anyone.

"Even if I'm just going to the shops, I'll always wear something flamboyant - it's part of who I am.

"I don't think that enough young people experiment with their style, so I hope I can be an inspiration."

After leaving school Katie created her own YouTube channel Iska Ithil to show her 10,000 followers how to achieve her look.

She said: "It was brilliant being recognised by people who liked my look, instead of being teased."

Katie admits she owes her confidence to her mum Jill Lawrence, 54, who has always supported the way she dresses.

She said: "I was really lucky that my mum let me dress like this from a young age.

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How Teenager Turns Into Living Doll

"Now I don't even think twice about what people think about me because I've always been told it's OK to look how I do by my own mother.

"There are so many people around the world who can't dress how they want - I'm quite grateful about being able to express myself.

"I have a friend in Latvia who dresses like a goth but people think she is Satanic."

Katie's mum said: "I love the way Katie dresses, I find it fascinating because it's just so alien to my world.

"There's always a risk that people will misinterpret it, but that's not a reason to stop doing it.

"I think it's important to let children be anyone who they want and explore different ways of living."

But as well as being a way of expressing her creative side, Katie says her doll-like appearance often attracts attention from the opposite sex.

Despite dressing provocatively, Katie insists she only gets positive comments.

She said: "I get a lot of attention from men, but I think my piercings scare them off.

"Most people are just intrigued by what I'm wearing. I get a lot of nice comments.

"The other day a white van man drove past. I thought he was going to shout something rude, but he just smiled and said 'it's good to be different.'

"I usually get nice comments from middle aged men who say my hair is really cool or they like my face.

"Admittedly there are some people who think I'm doing it for attention but that's not the case - I'm doing it because I enjoy it."

Since the age of four, when she got a PlayStation for her birthday, Katie has been fascinated with characters from computer games.

She owns hundreds of video games and has spent as long as 24 hours at a time playing games like Final Fantasy with boyfriend Adam Woods, 20, who studies music at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Katie said: "We met playing video games at a friend's house, but Adam doesn't dress up. I suspect we look like a bit of an odd couple when I'm all dressed up and he's in his beige trench coat.

"But it doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as he's comfortable in what he's wearing that's fine with me."

Katie even goes to meet ups with best friend Holly Allen, 19, and dresses up as her favourite character from Final Fantasy - the scantily clad Serah Farron.

The role-play game originates from Japan and is known as Cosplay - costume play.

Katie said: "Ever since I was a teenager I've enjoyed creating new characters and becoming them.

"It guess there is an element of escapism - the people at the Cosplay meetups are usually the ones who got bullied.

"They are trying to find a happier way of doing things.

"You can go to a meetup and be as weird as you like and no-one cares - you're allowed to be who you want to be - even if you can't be that person in reality."

Despite the fact that Katie refuses to compromise on her look, Jill isn't worried that her job prospects will be affected in the future.

She said: "People see Katie in the street and say, 'look at the state of that.'

"I've also heard people say 'how do you think you'll ever get a job?'

"But Katie never rises to it.

"I think that's really sad that someone couldn't get a job and take part in society because they're not conforming with their appearance.

"I know Katie won't have a problem because she will only work in an area where her look is accepted. She's not looking for an office job.

"But if she needed to in order to survive, I think her look would be a problem for her, and I just think that's sad."

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