what are mary janes? shoes with straps, originally with low heels, round closed toes and just a single buckle. these are traditionally made with black patent leather.
current shoes of this type now come in a variety of colors and materials, even in a wide array of styles like platforms, high heels, pointed, peep toe and so on and so forth.
who is mary jane anyway? mary jane is a character in a comic strip called buster brown created by richard outcault in 1902. two years after its initial publication, outcault attended the st. louis world’s fair and sold licenses to use his characters to advertise products from different companies. one company, the brown shoe company, bought the license and had actors tour the country as characters from the comic strip.
mary jane brown, buster’s sister, wore the strapped shoes which have since come to be known by her name.
did you wear mary janes as a child?
girls' mary janes. one of the most timeless of shoes.
i sure didn’t. i’ve always wanted to as a child, but i relied heavily on whatever parents and aunts wanted me to wear, and that did not include mary jane shoes for one reason or another. or maybe i did when i was way too young to remember, but that doesn’t count. i’m talking about school-age, semi-clothes-conscious decision-making age. so i ended up just staring all forlorn and sulky at the shoes of other girls in class.
if you have the same memories of envy as i have, you can more than make up for the lack of mary janes in your youth by getting the baddest grown-up versions you can find now.
stella luna. 1" hidden platform, 5" heels. wide strap and chunky buckle. black satin and leather with red insole.
nine west. peep toe with 1" hidden platform and 4.5" heels. slim strap with button. black leather.
they’re so bitching, you can even fantasize about crushing the grade school bullies’ trapper keepers underneath those spike heels.
