46 Comments

I’m torn about ballet sneakers. On one hand, the idea of adding arch support and shock absorption to ballet flats is a blessing for anyone actually planning to walk more than a few steps in them. Aesthetically, though, they are giving flashbacks to elementary school Christmas recitals.

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I feel like they have a chance of being the liquid leggings of shoes -- everywhere for a short time then a collective "what were we thinking" happens.

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If I responded to half of today's fashion trends with "Didn't Prada already do that in the 90s/early 2000s?" I'd have a pretty good hit rate. Not as frilly on the ballet side or chunky on the sneaker side but they definitely existed back then. I coveted the Prada ones, and then Camper knocked them off, and then Kenneth Cole knocked *those* off and I think that was when my high school self finally got a pair.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/620da3b54c35bf16dd72195d/620da3d35b0f5578766f901e/64c48dbb6ddddf1488b664d2/1690602975359/2F94EA14-BD94-4290-A37E-EA4096019579?format=1500w

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I don't mind them, but when they tip into excessive ribboning, you have to opt into the whole Balletcore look for it to work. I have long loved the Nike Rift Tabi-style mary jane for city summers as an alternative to sandals.

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Yes!! Even though I like the idea, I just can't bring myself to get a pair because I think the Velcro ones especially feel like sneakers for children 😂

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Mesh flats were a thing in the 2010s, and they were cheap and gross then. I cannot imagine wearing them in a city, where city filth would permanently cling to the mesh, and make its way to one’s feet. No.

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oh golly this is too real. gag. I remember wearing sandals and mesh shoes out in the early aughts and coming home with FILTHY feet. I couldn't fathom that anymore. blech

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It's a very bad trend! Very!!!!

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can testify to this - owned a pair of ballet flats with a rattan-type weave c. 2009 and the filth/grit factor was even worse than with sandals because the design of the shoe trapped your foot in there with all the sweat, grime and dust that the open weave design let in from the sides, front and back. Looked great, but felt gross.

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Mesh embroidered flats from Pearl River Mart is what all the cool soho girls wore in 2023/24

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Ugh, 2003/4, not 23!

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I remember it well!

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I'm apparently a trendsetter, we wore them in the 80s in Chicago, along with black cotton Mary Janes.

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I feel like when all the original ideas have been done for a season, desperate designers remake classics into franken-shoes. Even if you like a particular style, you can probably only wear them for a month before they're out like yesterday's trash. This silliness just feels like people are trying too hard to be cool.

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My sister, who is a high school teacher, recently asked me if she should get some Sambas, and I said unless you want your students to roast you when TikTok dubs them as "mid", I'd save your coins.

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Haha are they mid?! I guess I'm mid! (Come to think of it, "mid" should have been a poll option.)

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Apparently due to Rishi Sunak they're fully cancelled.

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I don't think yet. As someone who loves sneakers, I think the more obvious hypebeast pairs are starting to get played out like the Adidas for Gucci/Balenciaga. But the Wales Bonner ones and the white samba color way look really fresh. I also like the Nike Killshot 2 for a lower profile sneaker.

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The Adidas Sambas may look fresh but for now at least I’m not buying anything Adidas after reading the NYTimes expose of the Adidas/Kanye West relationship that continued far too long in the name of commerce in spite of West’s abhorrent actions.

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Oh no -- how do they feel about Converse? I still wear those!

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Nah, Converse are classic. I work on a college campus and still see plenty of Converse.

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I like kitten heels, but I'm not thinking "FU Amy" while having that opinion! Just to be clear.

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hahaha, thank you

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I feel like a lot of these trends are giving 1998 Delia’s catalog.

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Apr 12·edited Apr 12

There is literally no need whatsoever to spend $1,000 on new cowboy boots. You wouldn't even want to because they're uncomfy until you break them in! I walked into 10 Ft by Stella Dallas in Williamsburg this weekend and they had a line of secondhand cowboy boots (like they always do) ready to be bought. I copped a comfy pair for $80 and will wear them to every outdoor party this summer in which I'm worried about my feet getting dirty or muddy. Go to your local thrift store, I beg you.

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real. thrift store mens section ALL DAY for my bigger lady feet

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LOL wow I was really in a state when I wrote that LRD Strat post...

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The PERFECT state!!

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I don't care about showing my feet or toes (I'm a Birks all summer person), but the mesh flats are just kind of ugly to me and they look like they have no support... my saying this is how you know I have old lady feet and would rather avoid plantar fasciitis than be on trend :)

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My brain hurts a little since the basis for so many of these were a THING when i was in high school circa the early 2000s, kitten heels, fisherman sandals, ballet flats (or just literal ballet shoes to school), and instead of peculiar mesh shoes it was those mesh granny slides from chinatown with the flowers and rhinestones that were impossible to keep on your feet while in motion.

So its like take the early 2000s but make it...chunkier, or weirder, or just a modern LSD fever dream of the late 90s and early aughts. Here we are. No wonder the bumster is back?

But long live cowboy boots. as a clumsy gal I have lived in nothing but them for at least 5 years now to ensure my toes stay attached to my feet. I'll pretend I'm a trendsetter.

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Yes!! I've decided I need to find out more about the adult fashion icons of that era vs the teens. Looking at Carolyn Bessette/The Friends cast/Seinfeld outfits are better inspo for 40-something me.

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There is nothing I'm not too fond of more than the constant reinvention of how many toes can be exposed at once in a shoe.

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I took my personal votes way too seriously for someone who just roates between different styles of Birkenstocks all spring/summer

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A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do, Brittan.

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Some of these trends just read "I don't need to touch the ground" for me...with all the sweat and dirt that comes with summer?? Especially the mesh flats and the fringe...these are shoes that only go into a car and out, no pounding the pavement!

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I do like the IDEA of mesh ballerinas, but they don't look like they have any support AND I have sweaty feet (sorry) so it's a no from me.

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I didn’t realize Onitsuka tigers were polarizing. I really really love mine. They feel a bit more sleek for day sneakers and good to mix it up from chunky sneaks

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I bought into the mesh Alaia ballet flats last summer and I am over them. I think I wore them twice. I just sent them to the real real. Black size 38 if you didn’t get them last year and still want to try the trend.

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I gasped. Over them because of appearance or comfort or...?

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😂 I just don’t like the way my feet look in them. And I wear sandals exposing my toes. It’s not the toes. I just don’t like the look on me. And I have other Alaia ballet flats that I love. Are you a 38?

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No, a 40. Someone will scoop them right up!

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When I was a model--yes, it's true--my agent said on my first day in Paris: Wear a low, nearly imperceptible heel, aka kitten heel, and short skirts. It gives the illusion that your legs are longer than they are. He was a total perv. But he was right.

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