Rose Repetto

Today I’m going to introduce you a big name in the world of dance: Rose Repetto. What a delight it is to slip your toes into a pair of Repetto…! Seventy-three years after its creation, today it is the reference brand in dance. Its city ballerinas have also become a cult.

In 1947, Rose Repetto, mother of dancer and choreographer Roland Petit, made her first pair of ballet shoes at her son’s request. She set up in a small workshop on rue de la Paix, a stone’s throw from the Garnier Opera. The ballet shoes are sewn inside out and then turned inside out for more comfort and aesthetics. She quickly became a great success and dancers from all over the world ordered her ballet shoes.

In 1956, a rising star in the film industry came to Rose Repetto. A dancer turned actress, the young Brigitte Bardot dreams of a city shoe as supple and comfortable as a ballet shoe. For her, Rose Repetto creates the ballerina. Christened Cinderella, she is immortalized in a carmine red version in Roger Vadim’s film Et Dieu créa la femme. This is the birth of a myth. Three years later, the first Repetto boutique opens at 22 rue de la Paix. All the stars of the dance scene come to stock up.

Originally created for the dancer Zizi Jeanmaire, Rose’s daughter-in-law, the famous “Zizi” were popularised by the singer Serge Gainsbourg in the 1970s. Swearing by these leather lace-up shoes as soft as a slipper, he could buy up to thirty pairs a year and always wore them white and barefoot. Today, many other stars have followed in his footsteps, such as Matthew Chedid, Sofia Coppola and Kate Moss.

The company was given a second wind thanks to its takeover in the late 1990s. Within a few years it regains its reputation in the world of dance and gradually makes a name for itself in the world of luxury. Renovated in 2006, the mythical boutique on the rue de la Paix is a pure marvel: large velvet curtains, dance bars in the booths, crystal chandeliers, stage lighting…