From activewear collaborations, to styling and even sneakers, fashion is still obsessed with Balletcore. Arguably the biggest core to hit womenswear in recent years, the footwear world has been one of the biggest indicators of its staying power, as seen in the successful return of low-profile, ballet flat-inspired sneakerina and the ubiquity of ribbon and lace-adorned shoes in stores.
According to JD Sports & New Balance’s latest Sakura Pack, lace and ribbon might not be going anywhere, anytime soon. And more interestingly, your rotation still has space for shoelaces and tongues, despite what your Explore Page may tell you. Now available exclusively at JD Sports, the New Balance Sakura Pack asks velcro straps and buckles to exit stage left, while their New 204L, 530 and 740 have a moment in the spotlight. Not quite a night out at the ballet, the Sakura Pack is a balancing act which reinterprets ballet-coded trends, like ribbon and lace, in the subtlest way yet. Here’s how the New Balance Sakura Pack perfects the best of current women’s sneaker trends.
It started with customisation
So why are your favourite sneakers replete with lace and ribbons these days anyway? Looking at the prevalence of sneaker customisation workshops might bear our answer. Often facilitated by retailers like JD Sports and brands, curated by designers and creatives, customisation workshops offer people the chance to personalise a blank canvas – like a pair of GR shoes – and doll them up in their very own way. Balletcore’s influence can commonly be spotted in these customisation workshops, where ballet-esque and ultra feminine upgrades and additions, particularly lace and ribbons, being some of the most coveted trimmings to add to sneakers.
Taking the women’s sneaker market by storm, the most influential workshops that have achieved virality on social media all have something in common: walls and tables filled with bounties of ribbons and charms, ready to be added to shoes. This hype no doubt sparked a demand for these feminine-leaning updates and it makes sense that brands would eventually make similar designs a part of their mainline product offering.
Finding their footing
Yes, footwear has really been leaning into its feminine side, but in the past year or so, brands have really seemed to find their footing with how they go about doing this. At times, one might have argued that the use of these applications may have been a little excessive or overt, so that’s where the New Balance Sakura Pack really nails the brief.
Upon first inspection, you may not even notice the existence of any lace at all. While each silhouette in the pack comes correct with satin-like ribbon instead of traditional shoelaces, the use of lace is actually much more subtle. For example, the New Balance 530 and 740 each have a very delicate amount of tulle trimming fitted on the lateral sides of the shoe and heel, bringing with it, a hint of quiet femininity. And on the 204L, the lace is omitted altogether, while the floral underlays on the 740 are also a nice reference to the pack’s namesake. As a whole, the results show that sometimes when tapping into trends, less can be more.
A balancing act
Could sneakerina fatigue ever be real? If so, what happens when the women’s consumer will make a return to regular sneakers? It’s unclear whether sneakerinas are here to stay, or if they’ll fade into obscurity like they did twenty years ago, but they are certainly still taking up a solid part of the pie at the moment. But that doesn’t mean traditional sneakers are off the table altogether.
The JD Sports Exclusive New Balance Sakura Pack acknowledges that, not just by bashfully playing with lace and ribbon, but with their choice of silhouette and construction. The New Balance Sakura Pack actually features a trio of unisex silhouettes and makes a point to transform them for the women’s lens, through colourway, details and storytelling.
At this point, opting to present a textbook sneakerina-version of their 530 (which they’ll let Miu Miu handle), or a straightforward 740 or 204L Mary Jane, may have been considered too predictable. Instead, they retained the complete integrity of each silhouette, while still keeping it on-trend. For this reason, the pack strikes a balance carrying the best of both worlds. The familiarity of a traditional sneaker that’s able to hold space for feminine aesthetics, which were missing from the sneaker world for too long.
Shop the New Balance Sakura Pack now, only at JD Sports.
