The Yoyo Effect

Style maven Yoyo Cao lets us into her enclave of sleek minimalism infused with tropical warmth.

- Jeffrey Yan

For someone as impeccably styled as Yoyo Cao, you wouldn’t expect anything less from her personal space and she certainly doesn’t disappoint. Singapore’s most-photographed street-style star greets me at the entrance of her two-storey penthouse in Newton in an effortlessly chic get-up of a white cotton tank worn with silk trousers in Burberry’s TB monogram and Dior Oblique slides. As she ushers me into the living room, I notice the same TB print repeated on a cushy throw slung over the arm of her couch. Her aesthetic choices for her home clearly reflect her fashion ones: Considered, but ultimately effortless.

“We moved in last year, but it’s still not fully done. I’d rather spend time trying to find things I really love instead of rushing into it,” says Cao of her decorating process. It may be a work in progress, but she definitely knows the end goal she has in mind. “I wanted something minimal and simple; a space I can look at and be comfortable in for a long time, because you have to look at your home every single day. But at the same time, I didn’t want it to be too plain or cold. I wanted to make it as cosy as possible.” To achieve that, she started with a base palette of whites and off-whites, then sprinkled warm colours, organic textures and rich materials throughout.