Mae Tan

Mae Tan
Born	31 May 1994
Alma mater	Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School

Mae Tan (born 31 May 1994) is a Singaporean public figure. She starred in the Netflix Original reality television series, Singapore Social (2019) and works as a creative consultant at the multi-label boutique, Surrender. As of June 2020, she has over 108,000 followers on Instagram.

Background

Early life & family

Mae’s father is the multi-millionaire, Dave Tan who owns the luxury watch brand, Richard Mille in Asia. In an interview with Singapore Tatler published in May 2019, Mae shared that her family was not as affluent when she was growing up.

Education

Mae attended Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School and graduated in 2012. In 2014, she enrolled in LASALLE College of the Arts to study fashion but only completed the first year of the course. As of 2020, Mae plans to study fashion business management at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

Fashion

Mae as pictured in L'officiel Singapore's June/July 2019 issue. Photo credit to L'officiel Singapore.

At 22 years old, Mae was named one of Singapore’s Most Stylish Women of 2016 by Harper’s Bazaar. She has been featured in prominent fashion magazines like Her World and L'officiel.

Influencer

Upon graduating from secondary school, Mae started a professional blog where she posted make-up tutorials, product reviews and fashion advertorials. She was active on her blog, reportedly uploading once a week before switching platforms to Instagram. Since learning of fast-fashion's environmental impact in 2018, Mae identifies as an eco-conscious fashion influencer. In an interview with Her World that was published in June 2020, Mae explained:

“I’ve come to realise that as a fashion consumer, the more I consume for instant gratification, the greater the negative impact I have on the environment.”

Mae advocates for circular fashion and volunteers with the non-profit organisation, Zero Waste Singapore.

Surrender - Creative consultant (2018 - present)

As of June 2020, Mae is the creative consultant at the multi-label boutique, Surrender. She started working at Surrender in her late teens as a sales assistant. In 2013, D’League, a distribution company owned by her father, acquired Surrender. Mae was then assigned the sales executive position, eventually becoming the boutique's creative consultant in February 2018. Mae was involved in securing Surrender's place as the first independent local boutique to host a Louis Vuitton pop-up store.

Television

In 2019, Mae (top right) was one of the stars of the Netflix Original series, Singapore Social.

Over the years, Mae has gained some experience in show business having been cast in several productions.

Singapore Social - Cast (2019)

Mae is one of the main cast members of Singapore Social (2019), a Netflix reality television series about life in Singapore through the lens of six Singaporeans. The show premiered on 22 November 2019 and has only one season as of June 2020. Following its debut, the show received criticism for supposedly misrepresenting the lives of Singaporeans. The cast also garnered negative attention for being "privileged" and "entitled". Mae gave her thoughts about the backlash in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar that was published in December 2019. She says:

“The show is not meant to reflect Singapore as a whole but our (the cast) lives and that’s what it did.”

Travel shows - Host (2013 & 2015)

In 2013, Mae hosted a reality travel series documenting her two-month stay at a backpacker’s hostel in South Korea. She then went on to co-host Wondernesia (2015), a travel show produced by Discovery Networks Asia Pacific.

Year	Channel	Show	Refs.
2015	TLC	Wondernesia
2013	Channel M	Miss Korea: I’m Mae

Collaborations

As a public figure, Mae has engaged with brands to collaborate on various campaigns. The following section details two of her prominent collaborations in recent years.

Mae modelling a Limited Edition Anniversary G-Shock watch in 2018. Photo credit to G-Shock.

Vestiaire Collective (2020) - 'Wardrobe Reality Check Challenge'

In April 2020, Mae collaborated with the online luxury resale platform, Vestiaire Collective to launch its 'Wardrobe Reality Check Challenge'. Public figures such as Lily Cole, Arizona Muse, Cara G Mcllroy, and Steph Step were the other faces spearheading the challenge. For the challenge, contestants were tasked to re-evaluate their wardrobes and select clothing articles to sell on the platform. Mae selected over 30 items from her wardrobe and the proceeds from her sales went to Red Cross Singapore to support their COVID-19 relief efforts.

CASIO G-SHOCK (2018) - 'We the Gs'

In 2018, Mae was involved in CASIO G-SHOCK’s 35th-anniversary campaign, 'We the Gs'. Alongside Singaporean rapper ShiGGa Shay and the local graffiti artist, Clogtwo, Mae designed a limited edition G-Shock watch on top of appearing in the campaign's videos. The campaign comprises of three short films featuring a mystery public figure in each one. Viewers were invited to guess the identity of these personas and stood a chance to win a Limited Edition Anniversary G-Shock watch.