When Did Ballet Pumps Become Trainers?

For several years, I have been stuck in a ballet pump vortex. I’ve seen, written, thought about and witnessed the “resurgence of” ballet flats what feels like a million times over. A footwear fever dream. Most recently, they have morphed into trainers. Perhaps not a surprising transition, given the widespread “sneakerfication” of shoes, as my colleague Daniel Rodgers explored in a detailed observational piece ahead of the New Balance loafer release last year. Since then, the intersection between sneaker and ballet flat has coalesced. Searches for “ballerina” are up 119 per year-on-year on StockX, a site with a typical audience of hype beasts and avid sneakerheads.

Read more: BAFTAs 2025 Red Carpet

Ballet flats were a hallmark of 2023’s year of The Girl (read a Daniel special on the subject, here) and two years on, we’re still in love with just girlie things. But not too girlie. “A clash of the ballet pump with a more ergonomic technical shoe”, is how Simone Rocha describes her attitude-soaked, stacked-platform takes, which she introduced in spring/summer 2021 ahead of today’s more mainstream trend. Cecilie Bahnsen, too, was ahead of the curve with her spring/summer 2022 iteration, the Sara sneaker, the design of which she has since evolved for her collaboration with Asics. “It was an intuitive exploration of contrasts, weaving together the grace of a ballet flat with the technical functionality of a sneaker,” Bahnsen, who feels the ballet-sneaker is a reflection of her “everyday couture” design philosophy, tells British Vogue. “It felt instinctive – a way to bring ease and movement to something traditionally delicate. It evolved through a fluid, hands-on process – cutting into the sneaker, reshaping its form and allowing something new to emerge.”