Repetto: Custom Ballerina Flats

In 1956 Bridget Bardot visited the Repetto workshop to ask the famed makers of ballet slippers to make her a pair of shoes as comfortable and pliant as those she wore in her days as a fledgling ballerina at the Paris Conservatory, and the legendary Repetto ballet flat was born. Some 55 years later, at the elegant original boutique on rue de la Paix, Repetto is offering a new custom-made service for this eminently comfortable and beloved shoe. With an astounding 250 delicious colors to choose from for the supple leather uppers, along with at least a hundred shades for the classic grosgrain border and elastic bow, clients can personalize their ballet flats according to whim, right down to a choice of three shades of heel: black, brown or tan. The discreet sign that Repettos were made to order is a tiny golden R affixed to the right heel’s outer edge. For the custom service a visit to the store is necessary, but the shoes, which take three weeks to make and are priced at €280 a pair, can be shipped anywhere in the world.

22 rue de la Paix, 2nd, 01.44.71.83.12. website

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Originally published in the May 2011 issue of France Today