When is the right time to follow your dreams—before or after college?

I’ve often heard this question from aspiring young designers. Celine Mallari, a third-year high-school student at Assumption, did not even wait for college to pursue her passion. She began her journey when she was just 13 years old.

This young designer’s penchant for designing did not happen by accident. Creativity is in her genes. Her mom is an interior designer and a professor at the Philippine School of Interior Design, and her dad is a graphic designer who is also trying his hand as a writer.

“Fashion is what I really, really love,” Celine recalls. “I was only two the first time I told my mom about it. Then I started drawing.”

Her parents saw the smart toddler’s love for designing clothes and let her be creative with pencil and paper. “I think the first things I drew were gowns. I used to say that I’d make gowns for the poor,” she adds.

Best of both worlds

Celine reminds us of Miley Cyrus’ Hannah Montana character. She has the best of both worlds: the academe and fashion—although, in this case, her other world is no secret to her

friends and schoolmates. It is quite an amazing feat for a high-school student to have good grades and still have a stellar extracurricular standing.

Yet, Celine, with her thirst for knowledge in design, has added one daunting ambition: to go to fashion school. With the pressure to keep up with all her activities, it’s hard to stay sane, especially since Celine is also the president of Assumption’s stylists’ organization.

“I study during my breaks, in between school. It gives me more time to design when I go home. A way for me to cool down from academics is to draw. I design. I just think about fashion,” she says.

If there’s a will, there’s a way. She knows her dreams so well, she’s going to make them happen—just like her style icon, prominent French fashion blogger Garance Doré, did.

Age doesn’t matter

Garance is known for having spot-on fashion opinions, and for her photographs of empowered women from different fashion capitals. “I like the people she photographs. They have their own style, and that’s what I look for. It’s not just about wearing expensive things. It’s about someone who’s making a style of her own,” Celine says.

We were shocked when  Therry Lim of Slim’s told us that Celine is just 16 years old. We’ve met young designers who started creating clothes right after college, or who have fashion designing as the specialization of their undergraduate studies. But Celine has made a big impact on us. She is proof that age doesn’t matter if you want to become a designer.

What’s most important is that you follow your calling.