Fashion People Are Still Wearing White Sneakers—But With This Pant Trend Instead of Jeans

Shop the combination Charlize Theron just wore in Manhattan.

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Charlize Theron wearing a denim bomber jacket, white balloon pants, white sneakers, and a baseball cap in NYC
(Image credit: Aeon/GC Images/Getty Images)
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As I'm sure you recall, several years ago, the only sneakers anyone wore were stark white ones. Well, that changed, and colorful sneakers became the go-to, with tan sneakers being the neutral sneaker color everyone started swapping all-white ones for on occasion. But I'm here to report that white sneakers are still cool, because they're a classic. What's evolved is what people wear them with, and it's no longer just jeans. It's the job of a Who What Wear editor to put highly specific trends on your radar, so let's discuss the one Charlize Theron just wore with her white Saint Laurent sneakers in Midtown Manhattan.

The pant trend I'm referring to is white balloon pants. The balloon pants trend first garnered attention last summer, but it's gone fully mainstream, and complements white sneakers perfectly, as Theron so expertly displayed. I'm seeing white balloon pants styled with a great many shoe styles this spring, but I have to say that the contrast of white sneakers makes for an especially fresh and cool pairing. See for yourself below, and shop white balloon pants and a few standout white sneakers to wear with them.

As Seen on Charlize Theron in Manhattan

Charlize Theron wearing a denim bomber jacket, white balloon pants, white sneakers, and a baseball cap in NYC

(Image credit: Aeon/GC Images/Getty Images)

Charlize Theron wearing a denim bomber jacket, white balloon pants, white sneakers, and a baseball cap in NYC

(Image credit: Aeon/GC Images/Getty Images)

On Charlize Theron: Alaïa Denim Blouson Jacket ($1700); Saint Laurent sneakers

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Allyson Payer
Allyson Payer
Senior Editor

Allyson is a senior editor for Who What Wear. She joined the company in 2014 as co-founder Katherine Power's executive assistant and over the years has written hundreds of stories for Who What Wear. Prior to her career in fashion, Allyson worked in the entertainment industry at companies such as Sony Pictures Television. Allyson is now based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a BFA in theater arts. Her path to fashion may not have been linear, but based on the number of fashion magazines she collected as a child and young adult, it was meant to be.