Shoes displayed at the ongoing exhibition. [Photo provided to China Daily]

For the Asia leg of the exhibition, actress and singer Karen Mok has loaned 14 pairs of shoes from her personal collection, which represent important milestones in her life and career.

Savi says though the original collection of the V&A museum holds around 3,000 pairs of shoes she found that there were few gaps in the collection. So, she then searched for more representative pairs from outside the V&A, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in America.

For the exhibition, the team borrowed a pair of football shoes of David Beckham from the National Football Museum in the British city of Manchester.

She says though she enjoys studying the shoes and is attached to them, there is also the pain of getting rid of some while selecting exhibits.

"It's a pleasurable experience but very tough as well because you want to make sure that you choose the right objects that are going on display as they're not just there to showcase their beauty, but to tell a story."