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https://www.wsj.com/articles/ballet-flats-cool-girl-sensation-11649784929

CHIEF AMONG the many factors that have fueled ballet slippers’ recent ascent to coolness, I’d count: indie sleaze, “Bridgerton,” lug-sole fatigue and the pandemic-induced pursuit of comfort. The shoes’ appearance in the fall Miu Miu show last month, paired with scrunched-up tube socks and hip-slung tennis skirts, suggests this is a trend with legs.

It was designer Hedi Slimane who first prominently put the ballerina-inspired shoe back onto the runway in his spring 2021 collection for Celine. Meanwhile, indie sleaze Instagram accounts have been documenting the hipster aesthetic of the mid-noughties—think Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs—a time now viewed as a more innocent, golden age of style, when party girls like Kate Moss wore Repetto Cendrillon ballet flats. Throw in a collective disenchantment with the lumbering boots and sneakers that have been stomping down the fashion landscape for the past three years and the stage was set for the ballet-flat revival.

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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.