Badaude's Paris Address Book - Repetto

I may be on the beach, but I can feel that first breath of september in the air, like the smell of unopened schoolbooks and freshly sharpened pencils. As of monday, it's officially Autumn and we can change back into our Repettos!

Ok, I know generic ballet flats have infected the globe like swine flu, but the Rue de la Paix is where it all started.

The original Repetto boutique sells serious dancewear, so you can pretend to be a ballerina while having your feet measured. The original ballet shoes are soft-soled but they are also produced each season in fashionable fabrics, finishes and colours with more solid soles for outdoor wear.

I have to confess I have a vested interest in these shoes. I’ve been wearing the Zizi lace-up jazz shoe (silly name perhaps, but Serge Gainsbourg didn’t seem to mind) for the last few years in various incarnations. 

If you don't live in Paris, my favourite model of the season can be found here.

If you prefer your shoes to be associated with a more girly icon, you might  try the BB (traditional ballet shoe style), which were named for fellow serial Repetto-wearer, Brigitte Bardot.

Repettos may be more expensive than your average ballet shoe but I can say from personal experience that they cost more for a reason; they’re hand-made and they last. I get them rubber-soled before wear to protect the flexible soles from the weather, but after that it’s like putting your feet into a pair of soft leather gloves.

Repetto at 2 rue de la Paix, 75002 Paris +33 1 44718312

Comments

[Sally]

Alas, a poor student like myself can't afford to shell out on this kind of thing -- but I really would love to. I'll just longing trawl through the Repetto website, clicking random buttons that sound like they might mean "shoes". Nice post.

[badaude]

You should try www.redoute.co.uk, the uk branch of the french catalogue. It's all a bit Empire Stores but they do sell Repetto which are often heavily marked down at the end of the season.

[Expat Stu]

Avignon, hmmm. You'll be drinking Chateauneuf du Pape, then. Otherwise known as "Pope's Newcastle".

[Gold Sphere]

I saw such a chic girl at a gallery this wknd she was wearing all black with gold Repetto's with a small heel, it looked so good.

I'm inspired...

[badaude]

I'm sitting in a cafe in Avignon right now. There are a lot of gold shoes here: mostly Tropeziennes 'spartiales'(gladiators). It's interesting that girls in Avignon really can do colour head-to-toe - and lots of pattern too. The alternative seems to be all-white or all black. Maybe I'll do an Avignon girls post...

[Allure]

Do you get your flats rubber-soled at Repetto or at your regular cobbler? It's a great advice and I'd like to do it with my shoes too, but I don't know if my cobbler would do it.

[badaude]

Ordinary cobbler: most of them will do it. After all, they must do something besides cut keys...

[Gold Sphere]

Your blog always makes me miss Paris...

I love people watching in Paris especially now when the season is changing... this reminds me that I want to get a good scarf for winter, L'Eclaireur had so many great one's but not in my colour... I am after a olive shade and most of them were beige/navy.

Were do Parisians get their scarves?
x
Silje

[badaude]

I haven't been looking for scarves so far this year (It's so dark in l'Eclaireur that I sometimes have trouble distinguishing the shades of garment there anyway). I have a bath-sheet sized shawl by Humanoid I bought last winter which is soo gorgeous, sooo warm and was sooooo expensive I just have to get some more 'justification' wear out of it. I guess the classic 'Parisian' scarf is the Hermes silk square but I don't see that many younger women wearing it. They're more likely to be winding something long, earth-coloured and hessian-textured 'round their necks, probably with a few random knots in it, and often at least two at a time. Despite the multi-scarfing, this does not produce at all the same effect as the huge 'London' scarf (see my 'London Girls' post). Somehow Parisian scarves just don't have as much volume. The ground floor of Le Bon Marche has a fantastic and extensive (if expensive) selection.