How Ballet Sneakers Twirled Into Your Algorithm

To the untrained eye, the streets of style capitals like New York City, Copenhagen, and Paris resemble a Swan Lake rehearsal this spring. A ballet sneaker trend—characterized by a soft, curved toebox and slipper-like silhouette—has women wrapped in its ribbon laces. The phenomenon isn’t limited to style capitals, either. Global searches for ballet sneakers rose 1,300% in the past quarter, according to fashion search engine Lyst’s Q1 Index report.

But if shoppers think these retro sneakers—or “sneakerinas,” as the internet has dubbed them—are the everyday equivalent of going en pointe, they might be a little off balance. “Ha! These would not have met the dress code at the Indiana University pre-college ballet program,” says fashion writer, critic, and lifelong dancer Alison S. Cohn, after I send her a lineup of ballet sneakers from Adidas, Puma, and Loewe for a real ballerina’s take.

“The sporty new Sneakerinas and ballet runners don’t look much like the delicate pink canvas slippers secured with matching pink criss-cross elastics that I remember from ballet class,” she elaborates. “But they do remind me of lace-up ‘jazz shoes’—basically, super-soft black sneakers with a flexible outsole.”

I also spent 18 years carting around a dance bag stuffed with Capezio slippers and satin pointe shoes—so trust me when I say leather ballet flats come much closer to the real thing than the sneakers Dua Lipa and Jennifer Lawrence turned into a celebrity street style trend this spring. However, the misnomer hasn’t stopped anyone from taking the trendy sneaker version center stage. Last week, Google searches for “ballet sneakers” and “ballerina sneakers” hit an all-time high in the U.S. The trend is influencing more than just footwear, too: according to eBay’s inaugural Watchlist trend report curated by stylist Brie Welch, searches for “ballet pink” are up 42 percent this quarter.