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There's life after Louboutins

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For stylist and photographer Olivia Tsang Ka-yee, style is no longer just about what's trendy or what the magazines are telling us to buy. It has, she says, become more about comfort and functionality.

There was a time when fashion statements may have dictated some of Tsang's style choices but that was before she got married and had her first child. For starters, she's let go of her obsession with gravity-defying Christian Louboutins. She confesses to once having a whole wall lined with bank-breaking, envy-inducing, red-soled heels.

'I used to obsess over Louboutins after I bought my first pair of open-toe black patent heels in my younger days. After that, I would buy a pair every month, even though I didn't love them and couldn't walk in them. When I realised what style I preferred, I stopped that addiction and sold them all to another Louboutin lover,' says Tsang.

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Her cupboard still contains a few impressive pairs of shoes, though most of them are now Jimmy Choos and only three or so are Louboutins. There is even the odd pair of runners. This is the result of what the 32-year-old describes as a 'painful streamlining process'.

For her clothes, she's taken over the wardrobes in the bedroom she shares with her husband and has also laid claim to those in the room of her eight-month-old son. 'He won't be needing that storage space until much later, I suppose,' she says.

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In these wardrobes, Hong Kong-born, New Zealand-educated Tsang houses her basics: white shirts, easy dresses, jackets, her collection of urban, athletic-inspired garb from T By Alexander Wang plus sportswear from Nike, Mizuno and Lululemon.

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