I Thought This Funky Shoe Trend Was Dead, But Celebrities Like Lola Tung and Bella Hadid Keep Wearing It

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Lola Tung

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The only thing that can really get me to wear sneakers is if they don't look like sneakers. IMO, they feel too casual for the kind of things I love to wear. Slipping into a pair doesn't come naturally to me. But this is exactly why the sneakerina trend spoke to me. Sneakerinas are ballerina flats with a sneaker edge that basically takes away all of the casualness of the shoe. Instead, they become freaky and weird. It's a hybrid of two shoes on the complete opposite end of the style spectrum.

The shoe style started to become popular with the rise of coquette, which was a couple of years ago now. And so I had thought it would fade away as new trends came about. Instead, the opposite happened. Sneakerinas are officially back and maybe even more popular than ever.

Bella Hadid ballerina sneaker

(Image credit: Getty Images)

We have Vivaia to thank for that. The comfortable shoe brand prides itself on making cute footwear you can actually walk 10,000 steps in. Its square-toe lace-up satin sneakerina (also known as the Christina) is beloved by celebrities. Lola Tung, Bella Hadid, and Charli XCX have all been seen in a pair recently.

Charli XCX in sneakerina ballerina flat

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It's not hard to see why the shoe trend would burst back onto the scene. Sneakerinas combine two different aesthetics and, as a result, look good with any kind of style, whether it's funky or freaky or simple and subtle. And with fashionable people everywhere seemingly prioritizing comfortable footwear in 2025 for outfits that you can truly live in, sneakerinas are set to dominate for at least another trend cycle. And I couldn't be more here for it.

Shop the ballerina sneaker trend:

Tara Gonzalez
Tara Gonzalez
Senior Fashion Social Editor

Tara Gonzalez is a senior fashion and social editor at WhoWhatWear. where she is interested in exploring the intersection of fashion and culture and why we are drawn to wearing the things we wear and what that says about the world we live in. Previously she worked as a senior fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar. When she isn't writing trend deep dives for WWW, she's working on her newsletter on Substack, Cult Classic, which explores the very best fashion in film and television. She has a degree in creative writing from The University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend and pug Bjork, the later of which has a very extensive collection of dog-sized Sandy Liang sweaters.