Foot Louche

Serge Gainsbourg's preferred shoes pop up in NYC

September 6, 2007—During the last two decades of his life, Serge Gainsbourg wore precisely one style of shoe: Repetto’s narrow lace-up Zizi Hommes in snow-white calfskin. He went through 30 pairs a year. You can now follow in the French crooner’s footsteps—hopefully a bit less obsessively—at the 60-year-old ballet-shoe brand's new pop-up store in Earnest Sewn’s Meatpacking District boutique. The collection, available on display through December 1, includes Serge's Zizis in suede (left), goatskin, patent leather, plus a limited-edition organic canvas model, which is part of Earnest Sewn’s new Greencaste line. There’s also the Fred, a black grosgrain and patent leather lace-up, and the Gatsby, a luxurious slip-on in goatskin or suede—ideal for hosting your next rager in West Egg.

Of course, ballet shoes aren’t for everyone, and, frankly, neither is the Meatpacking District. With that in mind, Earnest Sewn is opening an outpost on the Lower East Side next Friday. The 1,400-square-foot space was recently vacated by the Tenement Museum’s antique shop, and—like seemingly every building in downtown New York—originally held a speakeasy. Inside, the team dug up an original tiled marble floor dating back to 1906, and restored a series of old coal chutes in the basement. “The idea was to find a space with a sense of heritage, a preexisting feeling, that encapsulates what we’re all about,” explains Earnest Sewn founder Scott Morrison. And what they’re all about apparently includes flowers: The store will also offer custom Parisian-style floral arrangements. One supposes M. Gainsbourg would’ve approved.

Boutique Repetto, shoes from $235, through Dec. 1 at An Earnest Cut & Sew, 821 Washington St., NYC, (212) 343-2443; An Earnest Cut & Sew, 90 Orchard St., NYC, (212) 979-5120, earnestsewn.com