Paris. 1947. The story of Repetto was just beginning. Rose Repetto, mother of choreographer and dancer Roland Petit, conceived her first pointe and demi-pointe shoes with her son\u2019s direction. Thanks to a reversed sewing technique, she made them with an unequalled comfort, ideal for executing pas-de-bourr\u00e9es, arabesques, and other entrechats. These slippers wouldn\u2019t take long to seduce stars the world over. Rudolf Nourrev, Maurice B\u00e9jart, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Carolyn Carlson would hurry to the couturier\u2019s workshop, not far from the Op\u00e9ra National de Paris.<\/p>\n
In 1956, Brigitte Bardot took her first steps into cinema in the Roger Vadim film \u201cAnd God Created Woman\u201d. To shoot the famous mambo scene, the actress called out to the talented designer. She asked her to confection a pair of light, supple, and stripped down slippers… that would leave the toes semi-visible. So Rose Repetto signed off on a style made of carmen leather: the Cendrillon ballet flats, later renamed B.B.s. Success wasn\u2019t far behind. The brand\u2019s first boutique would open its doors on rue de la Paix in Paris in 1959. Mythic ever since, Repetto\u2019s street ballet flats tread the pavement of the French capital\u2019s streets, essential accessories on the feet of ladies wearing miniskirts and gingham shirts tied up at the waist.<\/p>\n
One year later, the Zizi saw the light of day in the 70s. Inspired by jazz dancers\u2019 slippers, this model was made of soft, fine leather and followed the movements of the foot to perfection. It was Serge Gainsbourg\u2019s turn to fall under the brand\u2019s spell, and he adopted these white laced brogues, these famous Zizis, created by Rose for her stepdaughter, the ringleader of the Zizi Jeanmaire revue. Dug up by Jane in the early 70s, she explains: \u201cSerge was looking for gloves for his feet, since he hated walking.\u201d It was by slipping his bare foot into this pleasant white jazz slipper that another legend was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepetto everlasting\u201d, he liked to say, he who bought more than thirty pairs a year. It\u2019s hard to imagine Gainsbourg without his Repettos; it\u2019s part of the collective imagination of Gainsbourg, and yet, there was indeed a very first time. After that famous first time, he never left them. He even schooled others in them: a good portion of the French youth still follows his footsteps in Zizis, from Mathieu Chedid to B\u00e9nabar and Thomas Dutronc in between. Today, this flagship model remains a must-have for men and women alike. The birth of an icon, reinvented each season in a number of colors – often neon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris. 1947. The story of Repetto was just beginning. Rose Repetto, mother of choreographer and dancer Roland Petit, conceived her first pointe and demi-pointe shoes with her son\u2019s direction. Thanks to a reversed sewing technique, she made them with an unequalled comfort, ideal for executing pas-de-bourr\u00e9es, arabesques, and other entrechats. These slippers wouldn\u2019t take long…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,9],"tags":[9482,9484,1257,9485,9486,8956,8990,2248,9478,1277,9480,1261,6137,9483,9481,9474],"class_list":["post-4829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion-accessories","category-shoes","tag-ballet-flats-bb","tag-ballet-flats-repetto","tag-brigitte-bardot","tag-dancers-slippers","tag-flaship-model-zizi","tag-history-of-an-icon","tag-icon-product","tag-leather","tag-perfection","tag-repetto","tag-repetto-shoes","tag-rose-repetto","tag-serge-gainsbourg","tag-street-ballet-flats","tag-zizi-brogues-by-repetto","tag-zizi-jeanmaire"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n