What Are Pantashoes, And Why Do Celebs Like Kim Kardashian Keep Wearing Them?

While Barbiecore has been all the rage no matter what price point you are shopping in, there’s been one other fashion trend over the past year that’s been, perplexing, to say the least. Kim Kardashian’s rocked it. Her ex Kanye West’s other girlfriend Julia Fox rocked it. Salma Hayek’s even worn it. The trend is a popular one called pantashoes. But what the heck are pantashoes?

Really the term pantashoes is vaguely self explanatory. You see a fashionista out in the wild and they seem to be wearing pants that bleed directly into their shoes. The look is Balenciaga’s creation and they go for a pretty penny, retailing for thousands of dollars, in fact. And they range from leggings with shoes ("pantaleggins) to waders + shoes and even athletic pants with shoes attached.

Balenciaga pantashoes, $3,050 at Bergdorf Goodman. View Deal

A History Of Kim Kardashian Sporting Pantashoes

Kim Kardashian’s relationship with Balenciago goes back a long time, to her early days of dating Kanye West, in fact. The mom of four went on a shopping spree with West early on in their dating timeline back in 2013. Years later, she was still supporting the brand as it entered its pantashoes phase. More recently, a controversy with a Balenciago ad campaign has caused her to reevalute her relationship with the fashion house, but she’s been seen many times in recent years in the iconic style.

If you haven’t seen what the pantashoes look like out in a wild he’s a side look at The Kardashians star in the duds.

During the pandemic, Kim also managed to rock out in two fashion trends at once. Her hot pink SNL outfit in 2021 both managed to encompass the Barbiecore trend and the pants-with-footwear trend in the same breath.

In fact, Kim wore a lot of Balenciaga that year. She wore it as part as her famously covered Met Gala look. She wore it to her ex's show after her split with Kanye West. That’s changed more recently but its easy to see why pantashoes are a bit synonymous with Kim. She’s not the only big name to sport them though.

Julia Fox Wore Pantashoes During Her Stint With Kanye West

Kim may have had a previous relationship with Balenciaga, but just because she broke up with Kanye West doesn’t mean he’s on the outs with the brand. In fact, during his short-lived time with Julia Fox, she managed to rock out the Balenciaga look. (Likely sometime after Ye had her "packing up " her old life.)  She, however, did it with denim.

Salma Hayek Wore The Trend Even Earlier

But it turns out the trend of the pantashoes has been around much longer. In fact, Salma Hayek actually wore the look way back in 2017 when she wore a dress with pantashoes to an art event at the MET. That event, the “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons:Art of the In-Between' Costume Institute Gala featured the actress in a black dress and bright purple pantashoes. It was a very new and notable look at the time and while it didn’t necessarily catch fire right away, it’s worth noting the Magic Mike: The Last Dance star brought the trend to life even earlier.

As noted prior, Kim Kardashian had maybe been the biggest advocate of the pants, but she actually re-evaluated her relationship with Balenciaga recently after an ad-campaign went awry. In it, kids were asked to hold BDSM teddy bears while photographs were taken of them, and the backlash against the photoshoot was loud enough the reality star even commented on it.

She eventually said she would reevaluate her relationship Balenciaga. Given some other celebrities have also dropped off, it's unclear if the pantashoes trend will continue into 2023 on celebrity red carpets, but there are some knockoff versions available for the non-rich and famous these days.

Shein pantashoes in black (other colors, including hot pink and red are available), $60.50View Deal

And those don't have a BDSM controversy attached to them.