Claire McCardell, who put ballet slippers on her runway models in the war years, at work in 1944 beside a colleague the record does not name. Photo Philippe Halsman for LIFE, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Ballet flats
What it took directly
- documentedClaire McCardell's ballet flats took from wartime rationing, which left her without showroom shoes for a 1942 show"In one of her shows in 1942 Claire was unable to obtain traditional showroom shoes for her models due to rationing from World War II. As an alternative, she put her models in ballet flats" Maryland State Archives, biography of Claire McCardell
- statedThe fashion ballet flat took from Capezio's long-sole ballet shoe, which Claire McCardell showed with her collection"In 1941, Claire McCardell showed the Capezio long-sole ballet shoe with her fashion collection." Capezio, on its own history page (it dates the show to 1941)
- statedRepetto's Cendrillon ballet flat took from Brigitte Bardot, to whom it was dedicated and who wore it in And God Created Woman"Birth of the "Cendrillon" ballet flats, dedicated to Brigitte Bardot, the timeless muse whose charm immortalized the pair in And God Created Woman." Repetto, on its own history page (which dates it to 1956)
What it learned to do
- statedRose Repetto learned from her son Roland Petit's life in dance"Rose Repetto, guided by her son Roland Petit's passion for dance, creates her first ballet shoes in a Parisian workshop, just steps from the Opéra." Repetto, on its own history page
- documentedRepetto's ballet shoes learned from stitch-and-return construction, which Rose Repetto used"The sturdy stitch-and-return construction that she employed garnered a devoted clientele." NUVO magazine (2014)
The tradition it sits in
- inferredRepetto's Cendrillon comes from the pointe shoes Repetto made for Paris ballerinas such as Nina Vyroubova"Pink satin point shoe worn on left foot, undarned, with ribbons attached. Size 10, with scored sole, made by Repetto." inferred — the V&A holds a Repetto point shoe that Vyroubova signed in 1949, and Repetto's history puts the Cendrillon after years of making dance shoes; the museum record itself says nothing about the Cendrillon
- documentedRepetto's flat comes from Rose Repetto's postwar atelier making shoes for the dancers of the Palais Garnier"Here, in her modest atelier, she handcrafted ballet shoes for lithe dancers at the illustrious Palais Garnier opera house" NUVO magazine (2014)
- statedCapezio's ballet shoe comes from Salvatore Capezio's theatrical shoe shop by the old Metropolitan Opera House"In 1887, at the age of seventeen, he opened his shop near the old Metropolitan Opera House in New York City." Capezio, on its own history page
Where the whole form comes from
- documentedThe ballet flat comes from the ballet slipper, the one leather shoe wartime rules still allowed"When leather was disallowed for any clothing except ballet slippers, McCardell partnered with Capezio to make the ballet flat — helping to turn this shoe design into a staple of women’s footwear." Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, The Washington Post Magazine (2018)
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