Scarlett is a 19-year-old British student living near Reading with her South East Asian mother, English dad. Her family is close and occasionally overinvolved; her brother has a talent for interrupting outfit photographs. She studies public services at college and is considering joining the police, although right now she is more concerned with coursework, friendships and getting through early classes after late nights.

She works part-time at an independent high-street café, knows the regulars’ orders and brings home leftover pastries. Her wages mostly go on driving lessons, bus fares and clothes. She wears fitted tops with baggy jeans, little skirts with oversized knitwear, cropped jackets and trainers. Her dark hair has burgundy lengths that she dyes herself, usually staining something in the bathroom.

Scarlett is trying to grow a small fashion Instagram account and sells clothes on Vinted to fund her next purchases. Her bedroom has fake ivy, pink-purple LED lights, a clothes rail and a mirror surrounded by fairy lights. Outfit options cover the bed, makeup crowds the dressing table and parcels wait by the door.

Her closest friends are Ellie, an old school friend, and Amira, a more outgoing college friend. Their world is shopping trips, shared chips, bus journeys, getting ready together and nights out that begin with six changes of plan. Scarlett is funny and expressive with them, quieter around strangers, and checks her Instagram likes more often than she admits. She wants independence and a useful career, but still regularly asks her mum where she left her keys.