@lanvin’s ballerina flat became an “It” shoe in the late 2000s and beyond — and the back story might surprise you.
Inspiration struck when Lanvin’s then creative director Alber Elbaz was preparing his debut show for the French house in 2002.
“I was doing the fittings, there were so many pins on the floor and I wanted to protect the feet of the model, so I bought ballerinas,” the designer told WWD in a 2014 interview, adding that “in the end, it was just about protection and nothing else.”
He clearly liked the look of his cocktail dresses with flat shoes: A collaboration with Repetto followed, which then yielded to an in-house bonanza.
Jennifer Lopez, Emma Stone, Blake Lively, Nicole Richie, Reese Witherspoon and Emma Watson were among celebrities snapped wearing them in off-duty situations.
Read more at WWD.com
Report: Miles Socha
