Laura Craik on the indiscriminate nature of depression, a Whitney revival and fashion news that is actual news

I’m trying to get verified by Instagram.

She’s got a blue tick. I want a blue tick. Why can’t I have a blue tick, mum? Basically, I’ve turned into a giant toddler. No one really knows how you get verified, but one rumour is that you need 10K followers. Despite my feed’s intoxicating mix of third-hand news and dog pics, this is yet to happen. I lost some last week, and while I doubt my account is causing anyone anxiety, I’m wondering whether this had something to do with Mental Health Awareness Week. Maybe everyone lost followers, as people strove to focus on their own minds rather than the mindless.

Instagram is brilliant, except when you’re feeling terrible. We all know there’s a gaping disconnect between people’s online lives and their real ones, yet this can be hard to remember when confronted with X’s 10th beach holiday of the year. One of the many positive things about Mental Health Awareness Week is how it flipped the game: instead of gilding the lily, people tore off the petals, exposing the truth hidden within. One of the happiest people I know posted on Facebook about his battles with depression; another admitted suicidal thoughts. My heart broke for them, as it does for anyone who struggles, even though we all struggle with something. Well, maybe not all of us. But most of us.

Even now, as a grown adult, I’m still surprised when people who ‘should’ be ecstatic with the hand life has dealt them reveal themselves to be in turmoil. It is not in Laura’s Made-Up Book of Rules that Ryan Reynolds suffers from anxiety, Adele has panic attacks and Dwayne Johnson battles with depression. What, even The Rock? Yes, even The Rock. No fame, wealth or success shields you from mental health issues, because we’re all the same. And if we stopped obsessing about our differences, maybe we’d be better at remembering that. You can’t verify happiness. When it comes to identifying depression, alas, there’s no blue tick system. So for the love of God, or whomever else you worship, be kind.

Whit and wisdom

It’s been quite the week for Whitney Houston (below). Not least because she’s dead. Living people would struggle to have such an exciting week as she. First, it was revealed online that she had worn the same iconic white-and-gold Eugene Alexander dress as Carrie Bradshaw wore on SATC, leaving the internet all shookity-shook (see fashion journalist @alexanderfury’s Instagram for a visual). Next, her new documentary (the first to be sanctioned by her family) premiered at Cannes. If, like me, you’re still obsessing over the extent of Whitney’s close friendship with her assistant Robyn Crawford — as tantalisingly explored in last year’s Nick Broomfield film, Whitney: Can I Be Me — then you’ll be galloping to the cinema to watch this new one.

Kawa-bunga!

I’ve written before about my vexation with emails titled BREAKING NEWS when the only thing that’s broken is some Z-list celebrity’s heart. But I’ll make an exception for Rei Kawakubo because, well, she’s Rei Kawakubo. And it isn’t often that Comme des Garçons launches a new line, so the fact that the campaign is titled CDG BREAKING NEWS is, basically, apposite. It’s also as meta as the merch itself: sweatshirts and T-shirts emblazoned with CDG in bold letters are the polar opposite of Comme’s high-concept main line, but with the logomania trend showing no signs of abating, they’re set to fly. Available from Dover Street Market until June (as part of its Photo London exhibition), then again in October, both at DSM and online.