Ballet Sneakers Are Fall’s Most Divisive Shoe Trend

Much like putting pineapple on pizza or wearing AirPods in the shower, there’s a sick pleasure in combinations that seem so wrong but feel so right. Fashion designers know this and use it to their advantage. Whether it’s stripper heels worn under couture at the Met Gala or underwear paired with a prim sweater set on the runway, countless trends are born from an unholy union. Likewise, 2024’s most viral shoe is also its most divisive. 

Meet the ballet sneaker, your deranged new obsession.

Part dad sneaker, part ballet flat, this fashion abomination smashes together coquettish details and tyrannical functionality to create one shockingly bizarre and strangely covetable shoe. Think satin ribbon-adorned sneakers your suburban neighbor might buy at Costco or bright pink dance shoes soled with massive treads worthy of an uphill hike at Storm King. The ballet sneaker trend is basically the fashion equivalent of the Bride of Frankenstein—beautiful, yes, but also a little freaky.

And you know what? It works.

Sandy Liang, the downtown fashion designer behind every cool girl’s bow obsession, agrees. Her latest fashion coup is a buzzy new collaboration with French sportswear label Salomon. Featuring two must-have ballet sneaker designs—a Mary-Jane style with chunky trends (available in both black and white) and a black running shoe style with silky pink ribbons as laces—the collection debuted on July 15 to a thrilled Instagram comments section and a raffle-style early access system to give superfans a fighting chance to get their hands on a pair before they sell out.

On paper, the two brands may not look like ideal collaborators—one is a girlish fashion darling, the other a trail-running sneaker company turned streetwear favorite—but their joint collection is living proof that opposites attract. 

“I’ve drawn inspiration from the Mary Jane and pointe shoe silhouettes for my previous collections,” Liang tells InStyle. “With Salomon, I’ve been able to expand on my vision to explore new facets of these silhouettes and reimagine them with a more utilitarian approach.” Plus, as a native New Yorker who walks more than drives, she’s been a fan of Salomon’s “functional and effortless” designs for years, citing the company’s beloved Moc shoe as her first-ever pair.

The combination of hard and soft, practical and decorative, makes the ballet sneaker more versatile than you’d expect—once you get past the off-kilter weirdness of its ballerina-in-the-woods inspiration. “The beauty of these shoes is you can wear them with anything,” explains Liang, who, alongside stylist Dean DiCriscio, incorporated the collection into her FW24 runway show. “You can dress them up with tailored suiting or pair them with a flowing dress.”

Beyond comfort, the style also has a proven runway-to-retail sales pipeline. The Irish fashion designer Simone Rocha, who first debuted her high-fashion ballet sneaker almost four years ago, has made her “Tracker Ballerina” something of a signature, offering the design in a myriad of colorways and versions in her many collections since. In just a few days, you can have either a crystal-encrusted cutout pair or a pearly white version delivered to your doorstep should you be so inclined.

The trend’s in-your-face uniqueness is tailor-made for social media conquest where unexpected outfit formulas and personal style reign supreme. Search “ballet sneakers” on TikTok, and you’ll be served a small-but-mighty group of experimental fashion creators and indie brands alike racking up likes and saves with shopping guides, outfit inspiration, and unboxings that extoll the trend’s curious-yet-cute range. 

Remember TikTok’s wrong shoe theory? The ballet sneaker is the ultimate statement piece if you subscribe to this styling advice. They look just as not-quite-right with athletic shorts and a T-shirt as they do a tulle skirt and a bodysuit. These things will match nothing in your closet, so you can kind of wear them with everything. Watch out, red cowboy boots, there’s a weird new shoe coming for your crown.

Watch out, red cowboy boots, there’s a weird new shoe coming for your crown.

Double Standard founder Sarah Dauterman, whose ballet-inspired designs have reached a level of niche fashion fame on Instagram usually reserved for Ssense memes, puts it simply: The ballet sneaker fulfills “the desire to come together with those who ‘get it’ over a shared joy of the weird and unusual—and the desire to express one’s individuality.”

The pull of “the girls that get it, get it” is enough to make any fad take off, but there’s also a right place, right time element to the ballet sneaker’s appeal. Balletcore, which takes inspiration from leg warmer-and-leotard-clad bunheads, and gorpcore, which celebrates the previously overlooked style of campers and canoers, have dominated the online fashion discourse for the past few years. As such, a style that merges these two sensibilities feels ripe for internet infamy. 

It’s also the latest of a long line of Y2K fashion revivals to take off. “The years 1995 to 2000 marked the beginning of the athleisure trend, where athletic wear was incorporated into everyday fashion,” explains a spokesperson from Vestiaire Collective of the ballet sneaker’s history. Leading athletic brands of the aughts era took advantage of the first wave of ballet flat fervor with limited-edition sneakers that included ballet-inspired designs. 

Today, you’ll be hard-pressed to find vintage iterations sold for less than a few hundred dollars. And the ballet sneaker holy grail, Onitsuka’s Ensemble 59, often goes for more than $500. Described by the resale platform as “a cross between a vintage volleyball shoe from the brand and a ballet shoe,” the footwear hybrid has all the makings of secondhand treasure: It’s rare, on-trend, and hard to miss.

Not interested in dropping a significant chunk of change on a pre-worn ballet sneaker? Never fear, shopping options abound. Tokyo-based fashion label Akikoaoki’s white-and-pink iteration with inset lace persists as a continued favorite on Instagram Explore feeds everywhere. If you can catch the right moment in its sold-out to back-in-stock cycle, London brand Lazy Oaf offers a cool sporty version. On the mass market side, Jeffrey Campbell’s pink-and-red M-V-P sneaker is especially envy-inducing, and JW Pei has an array of more affordable styles you can order on Amazon—take your pick.

If you’ve still not yet reached the stage of TikTok brain rot where this trend makes sense to you, suspend your disbelief for a moment and consider the sartorial landscape. Between the core-ification of everything (cottagecore, fairycore, normcore) and the delightfully unhinged approach to dressing favored by Gen Z, is it that far-fetched that 2024 would bear a shoe trend that’s a bit of a monstrosity?

As another TikTok favorite and The Secret History author Donna Tartt once wrote, “Beauty is terror.” And no fashion trend right now has the freak factor quite like the ballet sneaker. So, if the chunky treads or silky shoelaces scare you a little, perhaps it’s time to invest in a pair for yourself.