Review: Tieks Ballet Flats (Updated)

I have now been wearing Tieks ballet flats for three years now and I thought it would be worthwhile to update my review. I was initially skeptical about Tieks, mainly because of the price. However, after three years of fairly constant wear and developing a collection of nine pair I have to say that I …

Men’s Ballet Flats on the Fashion Runway Part 3

2020 Bode Designer Emily Bode again incorporated ballet flats in her 2020 menswear collection. Spring/Summer Fall/Winter Dries Van Noten Dries Van Noten utilized the ballet flat in 2020 to create a very wearable unisex look for men. Lanvin Lanvin borrowed from the Spanish “abarka” style to create a lace-up ballet flat for men in the …

Men’s Ballet Flats on the Fashion Runway Part 2

2014 Telfar New York designer Telfar Clemens introduced the ballet flat in his Spring 2014 line, a shoe he called "the basic shoe." Telfar has branded himself as "fashion for everyone" and beginning in 2014 he made "ballet flats for everyone" a part of his designes for several years. This year's offering was probably the …

Men’s Ballet Flats on the Fashion Runway Part 1

Designers have off and on tried promote the ballet flat or similar footwear with their annual fashion show menswear offerings. While this extremely comfortable fashion staple has not really caught on in mainstream fashion, the fact that it keeps resurfacing shows that it can be a very versatile style for men. I am including mary-jane-style …

Review: Rothy’s Flats

I saw the hype and then took the plunge and bought myself a pair of Rothy's Flats in Maritime Navy. There is so much about these shoes I really want to like, but for me they ended up falling a little bit short of what has become a pretty high set of standards for ballet …

A Year in Tieks: a guy’s perspective

A collage of my Tieks collection It was just one year ago that my first pair of matte black Tieks arrived. If you read my earlier review, you will note that I was initially a little skeptical. They were comfortable for sure, but initially were not as comfortable as my other favorite flats, Born Julianne. …

Review: Born Julianne Flats

I will start this review by stating that these are clearly my favorite shoes in my closet. In almost every instance, these are the shoes I will reach for first. I am on my second pair of black Juliannes and also have the shoe in both navy and brown. Quality One of the first things …

The Best Ballet Flats for Men

I thought I might take some time to rank order some of the ballet flats that are out there and that I think make great options for men. If you are a guy who is considering trying out ballet flats for the first time or if you already wear flats but are looking for something …

Men’s Flats in Other Cultures

Women have pretty much monopolized the "closed toe, open instep" style of shoe that is generally called a "ballet flat" in most of the west. However, that isn't true in in a lot of other cultures around the world. In many cases these shoes may not be the standard footwear for men, but they still …

A Brief History of Men and Ballet Flats

Medieval Times Most historical references date the "ballet flat" back to the 16th century, although the idea of a shoe with a closed toe and open vamp probably existed long before that. They were called "pompes" when worn by nobility as a court (as in royal court) shoe but also in a more simplistic form …