The ballet sneaker has graduated from runway curiosity to the go-to shoe our Editor in Chief wears across Paris during fashion week and our Junior Fashion and Shopping Coordinator swears by when dashing between showrooms with returns. Lest we forget our Senior Beauty and Shopping Editor's saving grace on a recent press trip to Amsterdam. A frankly unreasonable number of cobblestones later, our shopping desk determines whether spring's trendiest sneaker is worth the splurge (spoiler alert: it most definitely is)
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The dad sneaker had a good run
There is a rule in fashion that operates beneath the level of trend reports and runway analysis, something closer to geology than forecasting: every decade gets the sneaker it deserves. The 1980s gave us the Air Jordan as cultural currency. The 1990s introduced us to the sleek NormCore minimalism of the Stan Smith. The 2010s were, incontrovertibly, the decade of the dad sneaker with the Triple S stomping onto the runways with a deliberate ugliness that every high street store was quick to copy.
And then, somewhere around the early 2020s, something shifted. The maximalist sneaker began to feel dated. Sole heights crept down. The silhouettes shrunk. If the 2010s were the decade of the dad sneaker, the 2020s are shaping up to be the decade of the slim-line: low, lean, and (most interestingly) increasingly, almost defiantly, feminine.
The sneaker spent roughly 40 years being coded as a masculine object with street wear (from which sneaker culture is inseparable) historically being a space where femininity was at best tolerated and at worst actively excluded. What we're seeing now, however is the sneaker thoroughly, and rather brilliantly, renegotiated. Satin laces, gathered collars, and distinctly dancer-ly silhouettes are appearing on the feet of not only Bella Hadid, but Harry Styles and Jacob Elordi too.
So what even is a sneakerina?
The sneakerina (or ballet sneaker, or ballerina sneaker, depending on which corner of the internet delivered it to you) is at its most straightforward a low-profile sneaker with ballet flat DNA: slim sole and a soft upper, sometimes dressed with silk laces. Louis Vuitton provided that catchy portmanteau, formally naming and launching an entirely new category in 2025, with Google searches for “sneakerina” sky rocketing up 21,080 per cent year on year. Make of that what you will.
But the sneakerina is only part of the story. Pull back slightly and what you see is a broader move toward the low-top that extends well beyond the ballet hybrid: Celine’s clean tennis shoe, Coach’s understated flat leather styles, and Dries Van Noten's speedy silhouettes are all part of this new generation. Whether this is aesthetic exhaustion or simply the pendulum doing what pendulums do is hard to say. What is easy to say is that it is happening and that it looks very good.
Simone Rocha spring/summer 2026. Photo: Go Runway
Prada spring/summer 2026. Photo: Go Runway
Milan and London weigh in
You can trace two origin stories for this moment, and depending on who you ask, neither is quite right. The first runs through Puma: the Speedcat, originally designed as a fireproof shoe for Formula 1 pit crews, spent two decades as a subcultural footnote before fashion's cyclical appetite for sportswear revival brought it back. Its sole had always looked more ballet than racing, and when it returned it arrived already halfway transformed. The second origin story belongs to Simone Rocha, who sent crisscross-strapped, pumped-sole ballet sneakers down her London Fashion Week runway years before the broader culture caught up. The truth is probably that both are right, that the Speedcat gave the silhouette its democratic credibility while Rocha gave it its intellectual gusto, and that the moment these two merged was when the sneakerina became unavoidable.
What SS26 confirmed is that the ballet sneaker has legs... or very elegant feet, at least. At Prada, the ballet sneaker arrived in mint satin with the panelling and lace-up of a training shoe and the weight and sheen of something you would never wear outside. At Simone Rocha, the version was softer, lower, blush pink and gathered in a way that tips decisively toward the ballet flat. Two sides of the same (very beautiful) sneakerina coin.
The ballerina sneaker has since migrated well beyond the runway, Bella Hadid has worn Vivaia’s version on two separate continents. Julia Roberts left Venice in them. The Adidas x Bad Bunny collaboration sold out with some speed. Miu Miu’s plume satin ballet sneaker fashion sources are already sniffing out on second hand sites.
Related: Spring jacket season is here. Here's exactly what to buy from someone who shops professionally
Ten thousand steps later
I should say upfront that my introduction to the ballet sneaker was not graceful. Slipping into my first pair of silky lace-ups prompted my husband to furrow his brow and question whether I actually work at a fashion magazine, which I found both rude and, given the current trend landscape, deeply en pointe. He has limited insight into the direction of contemporary footwear. I have, since, walked approximately 10 thousand steps in six different styles across three countries and several life situations, and I am here to report that the ballet sneaker is not merely a trend you put up with. It is, in several cases, a trend you actively enjoy.
Our editor in chief Martina Bonnier agrees. She picked up a pair of Tennis Silk Repettos in Paris during fashion week, which she (famously) tackle on-foot. Walking through every-arrondissement hitting up back-to-back-shows, she easily clocks distances most people only achieve at airports. Her feet, reportedly, have never felt better.
Junior fashion and shopping coordinator Isabella Manganas made the case for the high street, and specifically for Cos. She wore the bordeaux suede and nylon ballet trainer running all over Stockholm after a shoot, arms full of fashion returns, which is a specific kind of chaos that the shoe handled with ease. She also road tested the LV Sneakerina in suede calf leather, and reported it was incredibly comfortable. Especially so for a wider, flatter foot due to the sacchetto construction. If you have been avoiding this category because nothing ever quite fits, the LV is where to start.
Below, discover our favourite ballet sneakers to shop now. One note before you buy: sizing runs small across almost all of these. Go up half a size as a rule, and do not say we did not warn you.
