Noughties indie sleaze shoes are back – ballet flats are back on point | Fashion

GYour trick! This season, ballet flats, AKA podiatrists’ most hated shoe, are back with a vengeance. They recently graced the front row at London and New York fashion weeks. Killing Eve star Sandra Oh chose a black pair for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, while Katie Holmes and model Bella Hadid were seen running in them.

It’s the first time ballet flats have been fashionable since the Noughties, when an entire generation tried to emulate Amy Winehouse while Kate Moss and Alexa Chung stumbled in them and suffered foot pain. Fast forward to 2022, and Gen Z rediscovers this indie guerrilla era. Think puffy eyeliners, distressed leather jackets, edgy miniskirts and of course ballet pumps that flatter flat feet.

This season’s iterations are a literal interpretation of the traditional ballet shoe, with MatchesFashion reporting strong sales of Miu Miu’s pale pink version. Featuring a logo-embroidered elastic tie, they were styled on the Autumn/Winter 2022 runway with knee-high socks and a mini skirt, while street style opts for low-rise jeans.

This stylish slipper revival is part of a wider dance trend that is making leaps in the fashion world. While Rodarte champions tulle dresses that are beloved on the red carpet, designer Nancy Dojaka creates more stretchy bodysuits favored by It Girls like Hailey Bieber, just like in a bar.

According to Joseph Kocharian, fashion director of Attitude and Rolling Stone UK, who regularly works with ballerinas, ballet uniforms have become romanticized, similar to Audrey Hepburn at Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “It’s very accessible. Miu Miu flats are very literal in representation but people wear basketball stars and football shirts.

Next week, the trend will be in greater focus at the New York City Ballet’s 10th Annual Fall Fashion Gala. Celebrating vice chair Sex and the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker, the world premiere featured two ballet costumes by fashion designers including Gales Deacon and an original score by Solange Knowles.

Working closely with choreographer Kyle Abraham, Deacon adapted the haute couture runway and red carpet techniques to stage the pieces. From the movement of the dancers to the importance of cleaning in industrial washes (the clothes will be visited in the next five years) is considered.

Deacon said he enjoys seeing the worlds of ballet and fashion collide, especially on the road. “There’s a wonderful beauty about ballet and it’s great to see the fusion of elements taken from the stage to the runway into a modern context. It’s great to see people from the pinnacle of the art movement in such flowing net dresses.

When Vogue Spain Model Kendall Jenner in a 2016 ballet themed shoot, the internet is outraged. In the year Cut to 2022, and the ballet’s dancers are famous, with Royal Ballet principals Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales garnering cult followings on social media and front-row seats at Bottega Veneta. London-based designer Michael Halpern, whose designs have been worn by Diane Kruger and Lupita Nyong’o, chose to cast the Royal Ballet on the models for the campaign.

Lucinda Strachan, an artist at the English National Ballet, says: “There’s a fine line between trying to imitate something and being influenced by it. If you understand the effect, you can take as much as you want. While Nessie wants to wear the bodysuit on and off stage, she’s not so sure about Miu Miu flats, which retail for £550. “A friend of mine sent me a screenshot of them next to a picture of the same slippers we’re wearing,” she laughs. They cost £11.50.”