Chen Yixin moves with the assurance of someone who has been in front of the camera for years. On set for the digital cover shoot for ELLE Singapore, she quickly finds her mark, adjusts almost imperceptibly, and holds a pose for just long enough before resetting. There is no excess in the way she works. Her gaze, her poise, and her lack of need for embellishment make working with her effortless. 

Yixin grew up around this kind of fluency. The daughter of veteran actors Edmund Chen and Xiang Yun, she spent much of her childhood on set, watching how images are constructed long before they are seen by the public. By the time she began acting herself, the mechanics of performance, and the attention that comes with it, were already familiar.

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When she last spoke with us in March 2024, she was still moving across disciplines:  singing, dancing, acting, and modelling. Two years on, she is more selective about where she appears, and why. It’s a line she now holds across everything she does. Projects that once seemed perfect at a glance, particularly those that promised visibility or momentum, are now approached with greater scrutiny.

“I’ve been really intentional this year about understanding what my creative voice actually is,” she says. “Not just what looks good or performs well, but what genuinely feels like me.”

In an industry that rewards volume and speed, this approach stands apart. For Yixin, the question is no longer how much she can take on, but how much of it she can stand behind. After all, visibility in her case has never been hard to come by.

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EMPOWERED TO REJECT

Realising that a project is unsuitable usually comes too late; and when the work is already out in the world. Now, she is learning to recognise it earlier. She has learnt that when she is not fully engaged in the decision-making process, it shows. “There’s a flatness to it when you’re not really present in the work,” she tells us. When asked what in particular she would reject, she mentions instances where she is “just decoration”.

“I’ve realised that showing up just to show up doesn’t serve anyone, not the brand, not the audience, and definitely not me,” she asserts. “I’d rather do fewer things that actually mean something.”

That inclination towards decision-making rather than performance is perhaps why fashion has become an increasingly significant space for her. It allows her to direct rather than be directed. The difference is visible even on her Instagram, where her image now feels more tightly curated. While her feed still moves between shoots, campaigns, and personal snapshots, it now shows up with greater consistency—anchored by a restrained palette, more deliberate framing, and a clearer point of view. Her wardrobe has sharpened into a recognisable language of structured pieces and pared-back silhouettes. The emphasis is no longer on variety, but on coherence.

“In acting you’re serving someone else’s vision, and that’s a beautiful thing in its own way, but it’s not how my brain works best,” she says. “In fashion, I’m the one making the calls. I decide what the story is, how it looks, what it says.” 

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ON AUTHORSHIP AND AUTONOMY

That growing desire for authorship led her to launch Beike, a swimwear label introduced in 2024 to address the lack of options designed for Asian body types. She drew on Singapore’s heritage in the details. The Katong One, for example, is an off-white swimsuit with a scoop neckline and low back, with a texture that recalls Peranakan embroidered lace. The piece is complemented by breezy separates ranging from boxers to skirts and a tube top fashioned with a smock-gathered bodice, all in the same seashell hue.

“I wanted something that was entirely mine—not a collaboration, not a brief from a client, just something I could build on my own terms without having to ask for permission or justify the vision,” she says. “There’s a very specific kind of freedom in that, and once you’ve have it, it’s hard to go back.”

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For a time, she ran her swimwear brand entirely on her own terms. But earlier this year, she made a decision that runs counter to how young brands are typically expected to grow: She paused it.

Rather than continue producing, she chose to step back and refine what the brand should become. “Showbiz is reactive, you’re always waiting on someone else’s yes,” she says. “Beike exists on my timeline, and that’s exactly why I want to protect it and get it right.”

For her, it comes down to standards: She wants what she puts out to match the level she is working towards. “It’s not gone, it’s just waiting until I feel like what I’m offering is really ready,” she says. “I’d rather pause it than keep going for the sake of momentum.”

STEPPING AWAY TO SEE CLEARLY

If fashion is where she directs the image, travel is where she steps away from it to, in her words, “reset her eye”. She posts her snaps on @xineries, a separate Instagram account that captures her recent trips, from the mountain-studded Bhutan to the misty-lit forests of Sweden.

“When everything around you is familiar, you stop really seeing it,” she says. “Being somewhere new forces you to pay attention again, to notice light and texture and the way people dress and move. It feeds directly into my work even when it doesn’t look like it on the surface.”

For all the clarity in how she now approaches her work, there are still questions she is working through; chief among them being time. The question is not whether she can remain visible. It is whether this way of working—slower, more deliberate, more controlled—can hold.

“That longevity is possible if I do it this way,” she says. “By staying true to a vision that isn’t built for mass appeal, and still being around in ten years. And, honestly, that keeps me going more than anything else.”

Makeup Artist SHAUN LEE
Hairstylist KEN HONG/Evolve Salon
Photographer’s Assistant MOHD ALIF