Loosening the Laces: Ballet Flats
Image Courtesy: Cali Fesler
The world of fashion is, by nature, always changing. Still, there remains a sentiment true through every season and setting: what goes out always comes back in.
In recent decades, high heels have taken the footwear world by storm, becoming the primary shoe for the most momentous occasions. From sensual black Gucci’s to extravagantly ornate Jimmy Choo pumps, heels fill their hosts with the confidence to click-clack into any room feeling like Madonna. But what happens after the night’s over? You're betrayed by the very things that were supposed to give you the utmost support and care. Heels are the enemy, and this generation has an alternative.
Ballet flats. What started as a classic European silhouette meant for the queen’s professional ballet dancers has now passed to the public sphere, with brands like Simone Rocha and Miu featuring them in their recent spring collections. The same classic flat sole and round toe now represent so much more.
When we first think about women’s shoes, we think about the Carrie Bradshaws of the world and their 400-dollar Manolo Blahniks. We never think about the languorous luxury that is a flat shoe with a rounded toe. From everyday wear to professional ballet to staffing a construction site, anything can be done in ballet flats.
This not only marks a significant change in the realm of fashion but also in society. Women no longer want to impetuously throw on stilettos for work and pretend like their feet aren’t going to be numb by lunch break. This generation, by their choice in footwear, is judiciously prioritizing function and comfort over appealing to an unrealistic male-centered gaze.
Fashion is meant to empower women, giving them a second skin that’s sometimes even thicker than their first. What’s the purpose of that if their second skin is digging into their heels, restraining blood flow to their toes?
As a very wise Carrie Bradshaw once said, “I will literally be the woman who lived in her shoes”. If this remains true, why would one want to live in the borderline-inhabitable ecosystem of the high heel? Flats are practical and allow women to not only feel empowered by what they're wearing, but also by what they're doing.
At the end of the day, no one, not even Madonna, wants to be inconvenienced. So why let yourself? This generation is changing its priorities, rearranging them so that they can conquer the world, one tiptoe at a time.
Although flats are only now recurring in the trend cycle, they are not a new anomaly. They were sported by one Brigitte Bardot in the mid 1950’s. Bardot popularized these “dance slippers” in her breakthrough film, And God Created Women. She served as an idiosyncratic pioneer
offering an alternative to heels for treading the perilous cobblestone streets of the French Riviera. To do this, Repetto commissioned a special new shoe called the Cendrillon or the Cinderella. The shoe then became a French staple with new colorways and designs being worn all over Europe.
Image Courtesy: NSS Magazine
Ballet flats can now be seen on icons from all different worlds of media, such as pop star Addison Rae, Nepo Baby Kaia Gerber, and even Kate Moss, an icon known for strutting on the runway in nothing but the highest, most impractical heels.
Image Courtesy: WhoWhatWear
Breaking down barriers is never easy. Some may deem the transition from Heels to Ballet lats as a banal alteration, a frivolous shift that has no impact on societal goals and pressures. I reject this stance and dare to say that, in choosing flats over heels, one is actively preparing for productivity. No matter how the day goes or how many miles are traveled, flats will always carry their hosts safely and comfortably home. They are more than a shoe, they are the loyalist of friends, ones that would never post-game a hangout with ice and elevation. Ballet Flats are in.
Strike Out,
Writer: Addison Lucas
Editor: Daniela Mendoza
Graphic Designer: Cali Fesler
Tallahassee