May 02, 2021
Ong Bee Yan is 65, retired – and one of Singapore’s most in-demand models. Retirement is a time to relax – but for some, it’s a chance to reinvent themselves and get a new lease on life.
Photo: Chia Rong Liang
Ong Bee Yan is 65 years old but she’s not taking things easy. Since late 2019, the Singaporean has been one of the island-state’s most in-demand models, featuring in ads and posing for magazines such as
L’Officiel. In April, she made the cover of
Harpers Bazaar Singapore.
“It started when I modelled a T-shirt collection for Graye Studio, an online Singapore fashion label,” says the svelte, silver-haired grandmother and self-professed “elderpreneur”. “A photographer saw my pictures and did a test shoot, and the jobs just kept coming from there.”