They started life as a Sloane staple, then graduated to ladette’s best friend. Now ballet flats are on the rise again
It’s the shoe that spring has been waiting for: the new Alaïa ballet flat. It is studded with clear crystals, giving the not displeasing impression that it doubles up as fashion item and street-fighting accessory. And it’s £890, which is wild for a shoe that doesn’t even run to the expense of a heel. But you don’t need to worry, because they’re sold out. All the fashion editors bought a pair, apparently. And that’s fine, because they almost never kick each other.
Disregarding the chic years we are all too young to remember, when ballet flats were associated with Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn, they started life as a Sloane staple. It was never obvious why the kind of woman who wore an alice band and a pie-crust collar would need quick-getaway footwear, but these connections were incredibly tight; there was a whole era when to wear a ballet flat and not also own a horse was like an act of fraud.
