In 2023, this magazine declared ballet slippers the most fashionable shoe in street style; in 2024, it named them a seasonal must-have; and less than three weeks into 2025, it sealed their mainstreaming as an “It-shoe.” Fair enough: these flats have proliferated on just about every pavement and catwalk in the years preceding TikTok’s ballet-core phenomenon, which, if you are under the age of 16, has taken a bizarre turn with the emergence of “Ballerina Cappuccina.”

Over the past fortnight, a slew of articles have been published with headlines like, “What Is Ballerina Cappuccina—And Why Does My Child Keep Saying It?” An early example of Gen Alpha slang, the term refers to an absurd meme wherein an AI-generated ballerina with the head of a cappuccino cup pivots and pirouettes to a voiceover of what is essentially Italian gibberish: “Ballerina Cappuccina, mi-mi-mi-mi / È la moglie di Cappuccino Assassino E ama la musica, la-la-la-la / La sua passione è il Ballerino Lolol.” Whoever— or whatever—Ballerina Cappuccina is, she’s an icon. So much so, in fact, that schoolchildren have started using her name as a form of flattery.

Two people who fullfill the aesthetic obligations of being a free-spirited Ballerina Cappuccina are Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. The friends were yesterday afternoon photographed enjoying a post-Met Gala debrief in two takes on the broader ballerina trend: Gigi in camo pants and olive-green Miu Miu ballet flats offset by her bubblegum-pink Chanel 22 bag; Kendall in an ecru vest, straight-legged jeans and an Olsen-made Hobo bag with Eva ballerinas. The image could serve as a still from Sex and the City. Which is a point worth considering – before Ballerina Cappuccina was twirling to mumbo jumbo, Carrie was talking nonsense in a tutu.

Shop an edit of ballerina flats, below: