Courtesy of Man About Town; Aupen

When Aupen made its debut on the arms of Taylor Swift (and on her first public date with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, no less), Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and countless other superstars, the talents behind the newest “It” bag brand were shrouded in secrecy.

Was the founder a well-connected Hollywood stylist? A fellow journalist (it wouldn’t be the first time an editor wears a design hat)? A celebrity fashion designer? After all, the goods would later land on Olivia Rodrigo, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Charli xcx, Hailey Bieber, Lindsay Lohan, Jenna Ortega, Lucy Liu, Gabrielle Union, Emily Blunt — the list goes on and on.

At an Aupen preview last year, The Hollywood Reporter pressed Nicholas Tan, who introduced himself as the brand’s commercial director, on the elusive founders behind the buzzy assymetrical leather bags. Aupen’s founders did exist, but they preferred to remain as an anonymous collective to allow their creations to speak for themselves, Tan explained then.

Last October, Tan was revealed as the Singapore-based label, shortly after it announced its partnership with LVMH Métiers d’Arts. (He was being truthful after all.) Now, Tan puts a different face forward with his first magazine cover for Man About Town — and clearly, he’s no longer shying away from the spotlight. Shot by photographer Win Tam, the feature was styled by Anthony Tong and fashion-directed by Luke Day.

It’s not Tan’s first time posing for the camera. A former national swimmer who won gold at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, Tan was the first Southeast Asian male to model in global campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana. In the nearly 10 years since he first stepped in front of the lens for the Italian luxury house, the 35-year-old entrepreneur earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology at Harvard, worked in tech and led a fashion showroom that helped bring international designers such as Dries Van Noten, Joseph Altuzarra and David Koma to the Asian market.

Aupen founder Nicholas Tan in Man About Town‘s spring/summer 2025 issue. _{^{Courtesy of Man About Town}}

“In the fashion industry in Europe and America, they do cast the same image of Asian men, which is more slender, more slim, a more quiet image,” Tan recently told THR after sharing sneak peek images of his cover story. “We wanted to show a more stronger and sensual lens of an Asian man. Which is why, during the shoot, you know, I think we kind of really went there. Part of this was challenging the preconceived notions that the fashion industry has in Europe and in the West about Asian masculinity and how it’s typically perceived in popular culture.”

On Man About Town‘s spring/summer 2025 issue, Tan bares all in a black leather vest by Karmuel Young, shorts by Ximon Lee, underwear by Boss and boots by Sandro. Other shots nod to his swimming career in Dsquared2 briefs, and to his Ivy League degree with a runway-ready lab suit with a beaker while tangled in medical tubing. Another sees him wearing a business look by Bottega Veneta, sans the buttoned-up shirt and pants.

Aupen’s Nirvana carryalls. _{^{Danielle Directo-Meston/THR}}

The Singaporean label’s first release with LVMH was a luxe edition of its signature seed charm created by Jade Group, the same atelier behind hardware for Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent and others. Next was a bold pair of sculptural statement earrings, followed by deluxe and mini versions of the bestselling Noir carryall.

“I’m ready to step more into the light and have a little more fun with the brand and with everything we’re doing,” adds Tan. Here, the multi-hyphenate catches up with THR to chat about his journey from winning to designing gold, why now was the right time to step out as the founder, how he hopes his Man About Town feature shifts the conversation about Asian masculinity (and what his parents might think), what it’s like working with LVMH and more.

Aupen has been around since 2022. Why didn’t you initially want to come out as the founder?

I think one part was because I wanted our product and design to come first. After swimming I had done a variety of different roles, so when I started to brand I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed into a specific role as I had been more visible from the get-go.

It was more about getting the focus onto the product and also so that I could focus more on running and building the team, building the processes within that. Because in the early stages of a company, it is quite important that I focus on these things. If I had been out in the front, then I’m going to think about, “What are people going to say?” and all of that. It would have been a lot more to cover during the early stages when I really wanted the product to stand for itself. That was important to make sure the product was something that the customer and the girl really wanted before we moved onto the “Nick” phase.

It wasn’t because I thought we were misunderstood. It was really because I saw that now that our company is stabilized and a lot of our products and everything is doing great, I felt that if I stepped out, I could connect more to our customers more personally and inspire others.

As a fellow Asian, it’s always uplifting to see another person of Asian descent leading a fashion brand. And Singapore is underestimated, especially when it comes to fashion.

Ever since I’ve been more visible as the founder of the brand, people from Asia have come up to me and shared how Aupen’s trajectory had really inspired them. This also motivated me to do more projects like this cover that I’m finally taking on.

When I had the opportunity to do [Man About Town], I asked the editorial team if we could use more Asian talent because I wanted to use the opportunities that I had to spotlight more Asian talent onto the global platform. So we worked with an Asian photographer called Win Tam. He had previously shot a range of covers of Vogue, Bazaar and Elle in China. But he didn’t have more opportunities globally. So I was really excited when the team in Europe agreed to it and allow me to rope in more Asian talent.

We wanted to show a more stronger and sensual lens of an Asian man. Which is why, during the shoot, you know, I think we kind of really went there. So part of this was challenging the preconceived notions that the fashion industry has in Europe and in the West about Asian masculinity and how it’s typically perceived in popular culture.

What makes this return to modeling different than when you did it for Dolce & Gabbana?

Now, as the founder of Aupen, what I would like to stand for is so different from 10 years ago, when you know I was doing it as the role of a swimmer/model. The journey of Aupen coming from Singapore as an Asian and making it globally — with what I do, I want to take that message and inspire more people [and show] you can come from Singapore and make it globally. All the projects and creative endeavors that you have, all you have to do is start. With Aupen, we’ve been around for like two and half years now, so we’re still really young. So by doing more, it can encourage more Asian talent and creatives to really try and make it globally. I think it’s really different from doing a commercial or a campaign here and there 10 years ago.

Did you always know you would work in fashion?

I think I always had that side, I always dabbled in the creative and the arts, so be it whether I was in tech or all that. I still definitely had the passion all along. I think a lot of times as you cross industries, I think it’s really about just learning something from every experience, be it a failure, be it success, really learning something from each and then when you’re given the opportunities, like this magazine cover when I had the opportunity, really just seizing it and grabbing it and making the most of it.

Were you nervous about portraying yourself in such a different way?

Definitely there was a part in overcoming my own insecurities about body image and all of that before I was able to do that. But I think when I stepped on [the set], I was really excited [to take the] opportunity when I had it.

Do you see this as the first step as part of a larger plan you have in place?

I’m open to [more] opportunities and possibilities. I don’t have a complete plan for this, but it may open the door for more.

[On the Man About Town shoot], it was really important for me to really let loose and not overthink it, just really let the energy flow on set. It’s not about thinking four or five steps ahead [when you’re there] — that kind of thinking would constrain what you are willing to do now, and that will reflect in the energy that comes across. I think my mentality is I step on the set, take it step by step and really keep an open mind, really just open your heart and then really have fun with each step and opportunity that comes.

How do you hope people will respond to the cover?

I think the one that is the craziest would be the response of my parents. As you know, in Asian culture, they really place more value to succeed in more finance and tech skills, and making it in the creative or the arts is less popular, I think, among Asian parents. So I think with those feelings, definitely the big question is, “Oh my gosh, what are my parents going to think? My mom?”

Have they seen it yet?

Umm, no. I just told my parents about it. They haven’t seen it. I’m really excited to see their reaction. I think maybe previously I was more nervous about what my parents are going to think. Now, I’m positive about this because I do feel that this will create more conversation in Singapore and inspire people to do more creative projects and all that, and targeting the West and Europe, I think especially in fashion where the global industry and the media surrounds.

Why is it that there hasn’t been more talent coming out of Singapore?

The industries that are more popular here are finance, tech and science. Accounting, legal, investment, banking — those are your main industries here. We don’t really have that much creative, and I really do hope that what Aupen has done in the West really motivates more people to believe that something like this could be possible.

I do think a lot of the art students in Asia — in China, Korea and Vietnam — where there are a lot of emerging designers coming out, but they still stay quite domestic. Maybe they don’t think, “How can I build something more global or have a product that can be truly a global brand?” And I hope that they are seeing Aupen’s trajectory and they can dare to dream bigger.

Aupen Nirvana 32 Deluxe Noir

$450 AT AUPEN

How has it been working with LVMH?

The LVMH team has been super helpful. They manage a lot of the brands, so they have given me a lot of very useful advice having been there, done that. A lot of the issues and all the I experience, I do fortunately have the resource of bouncing the ideas, getting advice from their management team. So this has been the most invaluable.

They has been super, super helpful in helping us plan so many things and helping me see how the fast-changing fashion industry may look like and make some important decisions. A lot of advice they’ve also given us is around our managing our product quality control and shaping how we see the expansion of different categories.

Being a gold medalist swimmer and Harvard grad, and an entrepreneur, what do you think makes you tick?

I definitely like challenges and I like solving problems. I think that makes me wake up and go hustle.

You could say this new phase of your public persona is your next challenge.

Yeah, definitely. I think in the fashion space, I think back to why we wanted to portray this image. I do think that representation of Asian masculinity, I think we’re just at the start of that journey, trying to show that to the West.

What did you learn from running your fashion showroom, and how did it lead to where you are now with Aupen?

There’s always been other Western brands trying to find partners to come into Asia. So I set up a showroom and I just signed them on and started distributing them in Asia. My work there, a lot of it was seeing the creative directors put really beautiful things down the runway. My work involved a lot of editing some of these items so that the they would be commercially successful to consumers in Asia. So as I did more and more of that, it gave me a lot of experience with product development and merchandising and understanding the needs and wants of consumers within the fashion space. It also taught me a lot about the structure of the fashion industry, from the designers to showrooms to fashion week, to agents, to wholesalers, to the department stores, how the fashion structure worked.

That gave me the foundation when I was ready to step on my own to build my own brand. That was where I learned a lot and cut my teeth.

Is that how you ultimately were able to get onto Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, and all of the pop girlies and so many other stars? Or were you cold-calling and mailing to stylists you knew?

From the time that I had started and was operating the showroom, I had existing positive relationships in the fashion industry, so I was able to further leverage them just really naturally when I started Aupen.

What made you want to start with bags?

I started with bags because I think now where see that the bag is a simple accessory. If a girl’s wearing a basic T-shirt and jeans, she can just pop on the right bag and then really just elevate her look immediately. The day-to-night versatility of the bag styles that we have is also why it has become a celebrity favorite. It can be worn on the red carpet or to after-parties. It can be worn to the gym, so many different looks. I think that’s why we have seen so many celebrities carry it all over the place.

That must be excited to see how the designs take on their own lives.

It’s because when we design a bag right, of course. When we see how the celebrities style it with the different looks and the different textures, it really is exciting because I think just visually, artistically, how they understand that and how they put it together, every time it’s a breath of fresh air.

We have been so fortunate that this is a versatile piece that is across, I think, and we have already scored a lot of the fashion icons that I recognize globally. Every time it happens, it’s still so crazy. I can’t believe it. It really is surreal. If you told me a few years ago that this is going to happen, I would not have understood how and why. And then all of a sudden we’re here and [working with] LVMH. It’s been a whirlwind, but I could not have planned all of this. I would have had no idea.

This article was sincerely referred from The Hollywood Reporter
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