--- title: These Bernie-Sanders-Inspired High Heels Won't Come Cheap description: Balenciaga paraded Sanders-inspired shoes down the Paris runway; their shoes normally retail above $600 for a pair. canonical: https://time.com/4692049/balenciaga-bernie-sanders-heels/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-06T22:32:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:10.982Z og:title: These Bernie-Sanders-Inspired High Heels Won't Come Cheap og:description: The politician is not associated with the high-fashion product. og:url: https://time.com/4692049/balenciaga-bernie-sanders-heels/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5781f76ba474025/6988bd2b196cf462f903f1ff/bernie-sanders-balenciaga.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2840 og:image:height: 1598 og:image:alt: Balenciaga : Runway - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Bernie-Sanders-Inspired High Heels Won't Come Cheap twitter:description: The politician is not associated with the high-fashion product. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5781f76ba474025/6988bd2b196cf462f903f1ff/bernie-sanders-balenciaga.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Bernie Sanders-Inspired High Heels at Paris Fashion Week Won't Come Cheap > Sponsored content. 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Victor Virgile—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 6, 2017 10:32 PM UTC Storied French high fashion brand Balenciaga is dipping into the realm of [politically-inspired fashion once more](http://motto.time.com/4661038/bernie-sanders-balenciaga-fashion-collection/), this time showing off high heels wrapped in t-shirt fabric that echoes Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ unsuccessful primary campaign branding. As models paraded down the Parisian runway this weekend for the brand’s ready-to-wear fashion show, they were outfitted in pointy-toed stilettos with knotted fabric covers. Some of them, in a cheeky nod to the politician, were adorned with “Balenciaga”-branded scraps of cloth bearing the same graphics that [Sanders’s campaign used](http://time.com/4571251/bernie-sanders-on-democratic-party-video/). This is not the first time designer Demna Gvasalia has felt the Bern; at his [men’s show in January](http://fashionista.com/2017/01/balenciaga-fall-2017-menswear) he took even heavier inspiration from the Sanders logo, with shirts and outerwear styled in the red, white, and blue typography that Sanders touted throughout his attempt at the White House. [_Vogue_ says](http://www.vogue.com/article/bernie-sanders-balenciaga-fall-2017-womenswear-shoes) those leftover t-shirts were used on the heels. The irony, of course, is that while Balenciaga heels like the ones seen on the runway [retail for upwards of $600](https://www.balenciaga.com/us/women/shoes?gclid=CjwKEAiArvTFBRCLq5-7-MSJ0jMSJABHBvp0YgVv8o2AKY1W526sA1GG8t3MlwD-UdERstIpuNkHwBoCSy3w%5FwcB&tp=62533#{), democratic socialism-leaning Sanders himself is notoriously low-fashion. “I think, of my many attributes, being a fashion maven is not one of them,” he [told CNN’s Jake Tapper last month](http://motto.time.com/4661038/bernie-sanders-balenciaga-fashion-collection/). Whether or not he sought this status, looks like fashion is still having its Bernie moment. For Sanders fans trying to copycat this style on the cheap, [Racked notes,](http://www.racked.com/2017/3/6/14827908/balenciaga-bernie-sanders-heels) you’re in luck: just repurpose your old campaign t-shirt into a shoe cover. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4692049/balenciaga-bernie-sanders-heels/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4692049/balenciaga-bernie-sanders-heels/"},"headline":"These Bernie Sanders-Inspired High Heels at Paris Fashion Week Won't Come Cheap","datePublished":"2017-03-06T22:32:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:10.982Z","description":"The politician is not associated with the high-fashion product.","url":"https://time.com/4692049/balenciaga-bernie-sanders-heels/","keywords":["Newsfeed","2016 Election","fashion","Bernie Sanders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5781f76ba474025/6988bd2b196cf462f903f1ff/bernie-sanders-balenciaga.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5781f76ba474025/6988bd2b196cf462f903f1ff/bernie-sanders-balenciaga.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Balenciaga : Runway - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018","caption":"Balenciaga : Runway - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018","creditText":"Victor Virgile—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4692049/balenciaga-bernie-sanders-heels/","name":"These Bernie Sanders-Inspired High Heels at Paris Fashion Week Won't Come Cheap"}}]}] ```