SINGAPORE: Actress and model Sheila Sim has made an emotional return to the runway, walking for Chanel’s Cruise 2026/27 collection in Sydney, Australia, after more than 10 years away from fashion shows.
The 42-year-old Singaporean artiste was among the models presenting the luxury fashion house’s latest creations at The Cutaway on Nov 5.
Reflecting on the experience in an Instagram post, she wrote: “It’s been over ten years, and I honestly never thought I’d feel that again. But the moment I stepped out, something in me came alive. It felt like coming home to a part of myself I’d quietly set aside.”
The comeback was especially meaningful for Sim, who spent years thinking she had to choose between motherhood and modelling.
“For so long, I believed I had to choose: Mother or model. I could never understand why one had to cancel out the other,” she said. She has two daughters, Layla, six, and Skyla, three, with her husband, Deon Woo.
Speaking to CNA Lifestyle, Sim said returning to the runway felt different because she was now older, more mature, and at a new stage in her life.
Although modelling was familiar territory, she admitted that she used to feel nervous, jittery and insecure whenever she walked the runway.
This time, however, she felt she was representing women who had devoted themselves to their families and, in the process, forgotten to love themselves.
“I represent a group of women who have forgotten to love themselves after motherhood,” she said, adding that the experience made her realise how much she had grown.
Sim also expressed gratitude to Chanel and its creative director, Matthieu Blazy, for embracing women at different stages of their lives.
She thanked the fashion house for supporting her through various milestones, from her single days and marriage to becoming a mother of two.
The model first walked for Chanel in 2010, during the opening of its boutique at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
She went on to build an international modelling career in fashion capitals including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Milan and Paris, before moving into acting in 2013.
After taking a three-year break to focus on her family, Sim returned to television in 2025 with Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story.
She has since appeared in the family drama Brighter Days and is set to star in the dystopian crime thriller The Leftovers.