UP-AND-COMING model Tan Ying Ying has been working in the modelling industry
for three years and she regards Singapore top model Sheila Sim as one of her idols.

“I’ve worked with Sheila before at Redken hair shows at the Singapore Fashion Festival and she was outstanding.

She’s very charismatic,” she said. When asked about her own magnetic
aura, Tan sheepishly replied: “I’m still working on it.”

Yet, at 179cm tall, the 19-year-old willowy model certainly makes her presence felt, and she is a new face at Audi Fashion Festival’s second instalment.

Like Sim, Tan was talent-spotted at a networking event when she was 16. An
introduction to her agency, Cal-Carries Models International, was set up quickly and, before she knew it, jobs started coming in.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” she said.

Having walked the runway for fashion labels like Diesel and BlackJack in Singapore, her most recent show was for local fashion-design competition Star Creation, which featured local and Asian talents.

Audi Fashion Festival hosted the event. Asked about the trials and tribulations of being a model, she revealed that, especially for a newbie like her, modelling is not all glamour.

“Being a model isn’t easy,” she said.

“It’s not just about what people see but how you want to portray yourself,” she added.

“Models have their own expectations on how to walk, for instance, and if I don’t reach my own expectations, then I’d be upset,” she said.

Tan hopes to hit the big time on international runways and ad campaigns, like Sim. If she has any advice for aspiring models, it is to “be ready to accept
criticisms. It’s the only way to improve yourself”.

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