How to Style Ballet Flats—7 Unexpectedly Chic Outfits to Try This Summer

Reported by Vogue.

Ballet flats have a origin story worth knowing: the silhouette traces back to 16th-century dancers performing on stage, and the modern iteration owes much to Rose Repetto, who designed a pair for her son, choreographer Roland Petit, before the style escaped the theatre entirely and planted itself in the fashion lexicon. That's a 500-year runway. And yet, according to Vogue, they're having their biggest moment right now.

The current resurgence has a clear catalyst: Alaïa designer Pieter Mulier, whose studded Mary Jane debuted in 2022 and immediately sold out. The ripple effect was swift — from luxury houses to fast fashion, every brand with a production line put its own spin on the flat. The result is a market so saturated with options that the harder question isn't whether to buy a pair, but which version of yourself you want to be in them.

How to Actually Wear Them This Summer

The appeal is architectural: ballet flats sit at the exact intersection of polished and effortless, which makes them uniquely useful in summer when open-toe sandals feel too casual and a heel feels punishing. The styling range is genuinely wide. A boxy cotton shirt and straight-leg trousers let a studded flat — think Chloé — do the talking. Céline's poppy red Mary Janes work against a Dries Van Noten pareo skirt and a plain white tee precisely because the shoe is doing all the heavy lifting. For the minimalists: a nude slip dress, a light trench, white flats — done, over, devastatingly sleek.

The more adventurous options hold up too. Le Monde Beryl's crystal-embellished mesh flats read as a genuine summer staple, equally at home with a Prada slip skirt or sharp denim. Alaïa's latest iteration — now in metallic gold — lands differently when worn with a button-down and shorts, somehow managing to be bold and restrained at once. Loewe's espadrille-style ballet flat in brown, thrown against all-white linen with a red button-up, adds the exact right amount of tension. And the most classically French of all: a Repetto flat with a slip dress, an oversized knit draped over the shoulders — femininity balanced by something deliberately undone.

Ballet flats aren't a trend so much as a recurring truth: the right flat makes everything easier, and right now, the options have never been better.

Read the original at Vogue.