Yubin Shin, Harper’s Bazaar Star Awards 2025’s Fashion Influencer of the Year

The journey of promoting cultural heritage through fashion has never been an easy one, even for celebrities or influencers. Culture, after all, isn’t something people can instantly grasp; it takes time, persistence, and faith to nurture. In fashion, it rarely appears overtly. Instead, it’s whispered through cuts, textures, and the way a person carries themselves. That’s why Yubin Shin’s dedication to bringing Khmer beauty to the global fashion stage feels all the more remarkable.

For Yubin Shin, being named Fashion Influencer of the Year at the Harper’s Bazaar Star Awards 2025 is not only a milestone at the age of 30, but also a recognition of her enduring journey to honor Khmer heritage through a deeply personal style.

Yubin Shin, The Bloom of a Lotus in Mud

Before the spotlight found her in fashion, Yubin Shin began her artistic journey as an actress. Her path into the professional world of entertainment started in 2014, when her name was called as the top winner of Cambodia’s 12th Freshy Boy and Girl competition, the country’s biggest talent contest at the time. From there, she entered the film industry, gradually building a connection with the local audience.

Choosing fashion meant starting over in a field where beauty is redefined daily. She learned to navigate that world with grace. She has appeared in editorials radiating confidence because she knew exactly who she was and what she stood for. Yet behind every striking image were countless sleepless nights and moments of doubt.

“There were moments when the noise of criticism felt louder than the sound of support”

Yubin admits there were times she nearly gave up. However, she found strength in her belief that true beauty lives in identity, not perfection.

Years ago, she once described herself as a night-blooming cereus. Today, she calls herself a lotus that rises from the mud yet blossoms in purity. The metaphor feels apt for her journey: transforming challenges into grace and never forgetting where her roots were planted.

Like the lotus, Yubin Shin embodies resilience. She rises from Southeast Asia’s rich soil, blooming quietly yet powerfully. She represents the strength of women who keep rising despite every whisper of doubt.

From Phnom Penh to many international stages, Yubin Shin Wears Her Khmer Culture with Pride

For Yubin Shin, fashion has never been just about clothes. It is a way of storytelling, of sharing where she comes from.

“The first time I wore modern designs inspired by Khmer heritage on an international stage and saw people curious about the story behind them. That was the moment I realized fashion can be a language“

Her style reflects that philosophy. Traditional Khmer elements are reborn with modern sensibility in her fashion costumes: handwoven fabrics paired with contemporary silhouettes, ancient Khmer motifs reimagined in refined tones. Every look is a harmony between past and present, softness and strength, heritage and evolution.

Yubin Shin believes heritage should not be locked away behind a display cabinet. That is why every outfit she wears and every concept she creates carries a piece of Cambodia’s soul, not overtly, but delicately enough to invite reflection.

“You can modernize tradition without erasing it“

Through that vision, Yubin Shin has helped shift perceptions of Cambodian fashion. What was once seen as local now resonates on the global scene, from Phnom Penh to many international stages, from ancient temples to contemporary runways. As she often reminds, heritage never grows old if we continue to love and renew it.

The Southeast Asian Woman in the New Era

Amid a fast-changing fashion world, Yubin Shin has always held onto one unshakable value: authenticity.

“Staying true is my luxury”

In an era dominated by flashlights and social media filters, staying true to oneself may seem harder, but it is also more real. Her determination to live truthfully and act with integrity reflects the timeless strength of modern Southeast Asian women.

When asked to define the modern Southeast Asian woman, Yubin Shin responds:

‘She walks with vision and leads with grace — unshaken by challenges, guided by heart and purpose “soft but not flimsy, strong but not stubborn” as the Khmer saying beautifully puts it‘

That duality defines Yubin herself: elegant yet determined, rooted yet forward-thinking. She embodies a woman who carries the sensitivity of the East and the global perspective of today’s world. Her message to young women is simple yet powerful: “Don’t wait for someone to give you permission to shine. You already have the light, just believe in it, protect it, and let the world see it your way”.

The moment Yubin Shin stood on stage to receive the Fashion Influencer of the Year award, she personified the theme of Secret Blooms at the Harper’s Bazaar Star Awards 2025. Like a lotus rising from the mud, her beauty lies not only in how she looks but in what she represents.

For Yubin, fashion is not the destination but the bridge between people, identity, and pride. Like a secret bloom, her story unfolds quietly yet radiantly, symbolizing a woman who rises, transforms, and shines in her own light.

Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam