Jennifer Lopez Steps Into the Chunky Sneaker Trend's Comeback

The star mixed pumped-up designer sneakers with low-key athleisure.

Jennifer Lopez walks in New York City wearing an all green athleisure look including a green windbreaker and green leggings
(Image credit: Backgrid one time use)

Jennifer Lopez loves a high-low look. The star has been known to pair fur coats with baseball caps and baggy sweatsuits with $80,000 purses. She also loves a good trend—over the weekend, she wore a pair of super-wide-leg jeans that fit right in with the 2024 runways' top denim trends. And today, Lopez is combining the return of chunky sneakers with her classic high-low style.

J. Lo headed out for a workout wearing green-on-green athleisure on Tuesday, April 16. The look included army green leggings and a cropped, puffy sage windbreaker, paired with oversized Gucci sunglasses featuring gradient forest green lenses. Other accessories included her classic gold hoop earrings and—what else?—her trusty Hermès Himalayan Croc Birkin bag. But the pièces de résistance were her chunky white On Cloudtilt x Loewe sneakers with a bouncy, cushioned sole.

Jennifer Lopez leaves her apartment in green leggings and the chunky sneakers trend

J. Lo has been all about athleisure, mixing chunky sneakers and leggings with designer bags and accessories.

(Image credit: Backgrid one time use)

Chunky sneakers and leggings have become mainstays in Lopez's street style. On a recent errands run, Lopez wore basic black leggings and a pair of thick-soled $1,200 Prada sneakers. The actress-slash-singer-turned-musical-film-director has also stepped out in Allbirds, white leggings, and a Saint Laurent cashmere coat. Plus, she's strolled the streets in puffy Coach low top sneakers. If there's one thing we know about J. Lo, it's that her daily wardrobe prioritizes comfort and luxury (and squeezing in a workout, based on her collection of leggings).

She's not the only celebrity endorsing the return of pumped-up sneakers after years of Adidas Samba supremacy. Taylor Swift's Coachella outfit included a pair of chunky Gucci sneakers; Katie Holmes's off-duty street style often includes souped-up chunky sneakers by Pony.

Lopez's turn toward casual, yet elevated dressing is in line with the theme of her return to the stage, her first tour in five years. She could be channeling her "Jenny from the Block" roots with a stripped-down look ahead of the "This Is Me…Now" tour, which was recently rebranded as a "greatest hits" run.

That rough-around-the-edges spirit has been an enduring theme for Lopez, even more so this year. In a now-viral clip from her new documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, she goes on a tangent about her Bronx upbringing. "I like taking my hair out like this. It reminds me, like, when I was 16 in the Bronx, running up and down the block," she says in the snippet. "Crazy little girl who used to f***ing be wild and no limits, all dreams."

It looks like Lopez is still running, and needs the sneakers to go with it. Scroll to shop Jennifer Lopez's high-low look.

Julia Gray
Contributor

Julia Gray is a contributing fashion writer at Marie Claire, where she covers runway trends, celebrity style, and shopping. In her six years as a journalist, Julia’s reporting has ranged across style, music, Internet culture, art, retail, tech, and more. In addition to Marie Claire, Julia writes for outlets like the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Ringer, New York Magazine, Pitchfork, Nylon, and Vice, among others. Julia's fashion reporting is led by curiosity. Julia is not only interested in critiquing and covering pop culture, but in understanding what our pop culture says about how we live and modern values. When she’s not writing, Julia hosts a podcast called Girls Room, where she and her co-host revisit shows like Girls and Gossip Girl from the beginning with guests like comedian Cat Cohen and writer Hunter Harris. Girls Room was recently cited in the New York Times.