LaceUp

I had a nightmare the other day that Adidas didn’t exist, and everyone dressed far less cool and had very little sneaker game. When I finally woke up, I realized just how good we have it. Case in point: The Taekwondo Mei. These lace-up ballerina sneakers are so cute, and clearly I’m not the only one who thinks so. They’re always sold out, and after many missed restock alerts, I finally got my hands on a pair. I can confirm they’re just as cool as I thought they’d be, and you don’t want to miss them—they’re currently in-stock now in the prettiest pink shade.

The ballet sneaker trend has been a long time in the making, and it’s not as “trendy” as you’d might expect. If a ballet flat and a slim sneaker had a baby you’d get the “sneakerina.” It’s a quirky, yet surprisingly pared-back style—the slim shape of the shoe feels minimalist, where the option for bold colors or high-laces adds some flair.

The fashion crowd’s obsession with sneakers has ramped up over the past few years (thank you, Adidas!), and with balletcore in the zeitgeist, it was only a matter of time before this early-aughts sneaker came back around. They started to pop up at our favorite retailers last summer, and now they’ve fully gone mainstream.

Introduced in the 2000s, Adidas’s Taekwondo Mei was designed for those competing in Taekwondo, hence the name. They have a stunning suede exterior and come in a handful of colors, including baby blue, true ballerina pink, and black. The rubber soles provide a bit more traction than ballet flats would, and the strappy laces can be wrapped around your ankles in the prettiest way. The best part? They come with a pair of satin ribbon laces (aww!).

As someone who leans more towards Adidas’s minimalist silhouettes, I was shocked by how seamlessly these fit in with the rest of my wardrobe. I grabbed the baby blue pair and have been styling them with my favorite everyday outfits like jeans and a white t-shirt and sporty shorts and a tank top. I also tried them out with a similarly colored blue dress, and even with more feminine styles, you’d never guess they were sneakers. I love how they elevate every outfit to look more intentional and cool.