Going Global: Meet Gym Tan, The 62-Year-Old Singaporean TikTok Style Star

Ever wondered how Singaporeans are introducing Singapore to the world? Introducing our new digital series, Going Global, which takes you into the lives of Singaporeans who are making waves abroad in the worlds of arts & culture. At 62, Gym Tan might be older than TikTok’s average user, but with over 240,000 followers, she’s proving that you can become a style icon at any age.

This is a story about style, but really it's a story about the journey of continuous reinvention. And I'm lucky enough to be in New York on a cross-country Zoom call with TikTok style star Gym Tan, who is dishing out style advice and pearls of wisdom from her home in Northern California, just outside of San Francisco. I’m in my mid-30s, at times wondering if I’ve passed my prime, Tan tells me I’m foolish, and watching her TikToks, I can’t help but feel inspired. 

While you'll rarely see someone above 60 on TikTok, the fashion industry veteran has still chosen the platform as her medium to share her love for fashion and style. "Such a fun, dynamic environment, where you don't have to take yourself too seriously," she describes. And yes, her fans are mostly Gen Zers who look to her, someone over 40 years their senior, for fresh perspectives on styling the internet brands (like Freya and AYR) that they have come to love, as well as classic luxury pieces they aspire to own. Her moniker “Californiaistoocasual” is a jab at the California’s overly casual aesthetic, tech-company hoodies and athleisure, a world away from her preferred layered and textured looks. 

Related article: Going Global: Meet The Singapore Spice Girl, Shu Han Lee

In TikTok speak, Tan has gone viral. Since starting her account in 2021 under the encouragement of her daughter Mya Miller, who was also starting her career as a content creator, she's been profiled across various US publications. She was recently on The Today Show, a popular daytime television show that reaches almost 3 million Americans daily, all for her confidence, grace, and positivity towards ageing. "It's not that I'm on TikTok trying to be young; I am on TikTok being myself, having fun, doing what I've always loved doing - talking about style," says Tan, who is so encouraged by her young fans who have also shared her profile with their mothers. "They'll tell me that they're using my account to encourage their mothers to have fun with fashion. It's also what my daughter and I have always bonded over," says Tan. 

While fame came almost overnight (she gained about 10,000 followers in just three weeks), Tan did not see herself becoming a content creator, let alone successful at it. With over 30 years of experience building fashion brands and supporting their international expansion, she thought it was what she would continue to do when she moved to the Bay Area a few years ago. But this was during the pandemic, and the Bay Area has never been much of a fashion and retail hub.

"There were moments when I was disheartened and wondered what I would do for the rest of my life because I’ve really enjoyed my work, but I turned the worries into a driving force to see possibilities in doing what I love in a different way," said Tan, who was part of Espirit's success in the '80s and also worked with Club21 as President of DKNY Jeans International. 

That spark came while watching her daughter's packages from fashion brands pile up in their apartment. "Mya said, 'Why don't you do this too? My friends love your style, and I'll help you', so I thought, why not?" Today, the mother-daughter duo creates videos together showing how they style similar pieces in their own special way. 

It was what Tan did growing up anyway; she was always put together and dished out style advice to friends. She describes her childhood as being surrounded by very stylish women like her mother and aunt, although she preferred raiding her father's closet, experimenting with menswear-inspired looks à la Annie Hall. She was never one to just follow trends. "And that's why I try to impart through my TikToks. To find your personal style, you have to feel comfortable in what you're wearing. To feel young, you don't need to wear what the younger women wear. I could wear a crop top, but it's not what I like," she says. 

With various campaigns for fashion and beauty brands like Aritzia, BareMinerals, Clairols, Glossier, Brilliant Earth, and acceptance into the Sephora Squad - a coveted paid partnership with Sephora for content creators which word on the street says is even more difficult to get into than Harvard - Tan is entering an exciting new phase of her life as both a model and role model. "At the end of the day, when I think about why I'm really doing this, it's to remind myself and everyone that style and beauty have no age. Life really can and does get better, and I'm in my best era. In fact, I’m feeling younger than when I started."