3,000 People Buy These Comfortable, Iconic Flats Every Season
Way before Everlane created the Day Glove, Repetto had the Cendrillon ballet flat — a sleek, patent leather slipper with enough history to fill a textbook. The French brand, the brainchild of a mother wanting to design actually comfortable ballet shoes for her choreographer son, has been fashioning professional-grade dance shoes since the late 1940s. In fact, some 80 years later, the brand is still the official footwear supplier of the National Opera of Paris.
The company’s foray into everyday footwear happened in a not-very-everyday way. In the mid-’50s, Brigitte Bardot reached out to creator Ruth Repetto to design a pair of day shoes as comfortable as dance slippers to wear in her film And God Created Woman — the silver screen classic that canonized the starlet’s sex symbol persona. Naturally, the style exploded in popularity and Repetto expanded its line of comfortable day shoes.
VIDEO: Here's How Much You're Spending on Shoes a Year
Just this past year, the Museum of Modern Art added the Cendrillon ballet flats to its permanent collection. But the iconic shoes are hardly a relic of times past. Today, over 3,000 people still buy the shoes each season, and the brand has to restock the style at least once per month. The brand is a celebrity favorite, too — Karlie Kloss, Gigi Hadid, and Kate Moss all count themselves as fans of the classic ballet shoes.
Prices range from $95 to $445, shop the iconic flats by Repetto at Shopbop.com.
To buy: $325; shopbop.com
