Hold the Sneakers—This Is the Spring 2026 Shoe Trend Chic New Yorkers Are Wearing With Jeans

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I've recently fallen back in love with jeans after being pretty much a skirts-and-dresses-only kind of girl. But I think that has to do a lot more with my obsession with leopard-print ballet flats, which I have decided are the perfect styling option for a simple pair of worn-in Levi's.

I've loved them long before the Matthieu Blazy frenzy brought on by the Chanel pony-hair animal-print ballet flats, but I can expect that they'll only get more popular as a result. If anything, now is the perfect time to invest in a pair while everyone else is fighting over Blazy's version. They honestly give the same effect, which is a fun contrast against the simplicity of the jeans.

Leopard print ballet flats

(Image credit: Getty Images)

leopard print ballet flats

(Image credit: Getty Images)

leopard print ballet flats

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Animal print in general feels like it's having a moment right now as more people lean into pattern mixing, which was a prominent fixture of this past fashion month's runways. And while you can experiment, you can always stick to what you know and throw them on with a pair of jeans for a look that feels very 2014 Alexa Chung (complimentary).

To me, the fun shoe is grounded enough to wear every day, and it's comfortable but funky enough to add another element to your outfit. But you don't have to just trust me; look at the streets of New York! Everyone is wearing leopard-print ballet flats at the same rate they were wearing red ballet flats last season. It may be sad to hang up your leopard-print faux-fur coat for the season, but this trend gives you another fierce staple to look forward to wearing.

Shop leopard-print ballet flats below.

Tara Gonzalez
Tara Gonzalez
Senior Fashion & Social Editor

Tara Gonzalez is a senior fashion and social editor at WhoWhatWear. where she is interested in exploring the intersection of fashion and culture and why we are drawn to wearing the things we wear and what that says about the world we live in. Previously she worked as a senior fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar. When she isn't writing trend deep dives for WWW, she's working on her newsletter on Substack, Cult Classic, which explores the very best fashion in film and television. She has a degree in creative writing from The University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend and pug Bjork, the later of which has a very extensive collection of dog-sized Sandy Liang sweaters.