The Everlasting Appeal of the Best Mary Jane Shoes
The strappy shoe symbolizes high-power femininity.


The trajectory of the Mary Jane shoe trend has been fascinating to behold. Characterized by a strap (or many) spanning the instep, the silhouette can shapeshift and hopscotch across aesthetics. One season, the best Mary Janes on the market were like the girlish patent leather pairs you wore in the schoolyard. Fast-forward to a fashion cycle and strappy platform Mary Janes, with a distinct disco attitude, are seasonal best-sellers.
But as a fall 2024 shoe trend, there is no single front-running Mary Jane silhouette. Knee-high boots with studded front straps walked down Christian Dior’s Fall 2024 runways, and both ladylike kitten heels and buckle-front flats popped up at Miu Miu. In the celerity street style circuit, Jennifer Lawrence wears the Alaïa $1,050 crisscross Mary Janes (the Alaïa Strass is also a fashion crowd favorite), and Katie Holmes loves ViBi Venezia’s $150 velvet flats (if you think they look like your old American Girl Doll’s slippers, you’re not wrong). Just a few weeks ago, Taylor Swift gave the shoe trend a French girl kick in a bulky, block-heeled Mary Janes by Parisian brand Sézane.
Katie Holmes in her blueberry-colored Mary Jane slippers.
For non-celebrities, the best Mary Jane flats are comfortable, pain-free everyday footwear. “My tolerance for aching feet has dwindled to almost zero, and I longed for a flat shoe that would tick the ‘I’ve made an effort’ box—Mary Janes do that for me,” says Angharad Jones, a United Kingdom-based freelance writer and fashion content creator. “That little strap across the top of the foot offers more support and practicality [than a ballet flat] and means the shoe won’t slip off at inopportune moments. They’re more sturdy, and, for me, that’s where Mary Janes’s endurance lies,” says the author of the style Substack The Jones Report.
Fashion content creator Angharad Jones showing off her two favorite Mary Jane flats: one in black velvet, the other in olive green leather.
For one silhouette to consistently trend across multiple shoe categories—cushy every day flats, platform heels, and doll-like slippers—is nothing short of remarkable. Los Angeles-based fashion stylist Shea Daspin credits the shoe’s success to its core attribute: the strap. “[Mary Janes] are an iconic silhouette that is as easy to reference as a ‘stiletto,’ [but] the difference is that the wearer isn’t limited to a heel shape or height, as the strap across the front of the shoe is what’s indicative of the style,” Daspin says over email. A ballet sneaker with pink ribbon straps is just as much a Mary Jane as a traditional buckle-front flat.
Three different iterations of the versatile Mary Jane: pointed-toe and printed flats, white mesh flats, and curved heels with a single instep strap.
Plus, transformation is a core part of the shoe’s story: the moniker is believed to be drawn from a character named Mary Jane in the 1902 comic strip, 'Buster Brown,’ which was then pulled from the pages and into women’s footwear. "People are drawn to Mary Janes because they have been around for over a century, and we're used to seeing them repurposed in a different way each decade," says Daspin.
The current decade is a textbook example of the shoe's potential for evolution: Miu Miu’s 2016 take on Mary Janes meant baby pink ballet flats cinched with grommet-punched leather; in the fall 2022 season, Bottega Veneta sold buckle-belted platforms that doubled as surrealist art, and Khaite offered strappy silver pumps for a space-age schoolgirl; and now, for fall 2024, the best Mary Janes can be squishy commuter shoes, $1,000 designer flats, or party pumps that can hold it down on the dance floor.
The Mary Jane evolution, from Miu Miu Spring 2016, Bottega Veneta Fall 2022, and Miu Miu (again) Fall 2024.
The best part is that you, dear shopper, have the freedom to choose which of Mary Jane's many iterations you want to strap into.
Shop More Mary Janes for Fall 2024
Stay In The Know
Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.

Emma is the fashion features editor at Marie Claire, where she explores the intersection of style and human interest storytelling. She covers viral styling hacks and zeitgeist-y trends—like TikTok's "Olsen Tuck" and Substack's "Shirt Sandwiches"—and has written hundreds of runway-researched trend reports about the ready-to-wear silhouettes, shoes, bags, colors, and coats to shop for each season. Above all, Emma enjoys connecting with real people to yap about fashion, from picking an indie designer's brain to speaking with athlete stylists, entertainers, artists, politicians, chefs, and C-suite executives about finding a personal style as you age or reconnecting with your clothes postpartum.
Emma previously wrote for The Zoe Report, Editorialist, Elite Daily, Bustle, and Mission Magazine. She studied Fashion Studies and New Media at Fordham University Lincoln Center and launched her own magazine, Childs Play Magazine, in 2015 as a creative pastime. When Emma isn't waxing poetic about niche fashion discourse on the internet, you'll find her stalking eBay for designer vintage, reading literary fiction on her Kindle, doing hot yoga, and "psspsspssp-ing" at bodega cats.
-
The Queen of Norway Was Air Lifted to Oslo Hospital After "Breathing Difficulties"
The Norwegian royal has been forced to cancel her duties this week.
By Kristin Contino
-
Two Weeks Into Dog Parenthood, Sydney Sweeney's Dressing the Part
Denim shorts on deck.
By Kelsey Stiegman
-
I Just Want to Smell Like I’m Drinking Bubbly on a Yacht This Summer
The best perfumes of the season, according to our Beauty Director.
By Hannah Baxter
-
Black Pumps Are Out—Everyone Is All-In on White Heels
Fashion insiders approve.
By Julia Marzovilla
-
I’m Crafting a Rich-Looking Wardrobe With These Luxury Spring Accessories
Follow my lead by shopping on-sale styles from SSENSE, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman.
By Lauren Tappan
-
Taylor Swift Styles a Super Bowl-Eve Rich Girl Coat With $6,450-Worth of Designer Accessories
The singer co-signs the Penny Lane and Yeti coat trends.
By Amy Mackelden
-
2025's Loud Luxury Accessory Trend Makes Looking Rich So Easy
They might be maximal, but these styles are surprisingly wearable.
By Lauren Tappan
-
Spring 2025's Shoe Trends Are All About Following Your Instincts
There's no formula. Instead, find the footwear that speaks to you.
By Emma Childs
-
45 Designer Accessories That Are Giving Rich-Girl Vacation Energy
Luxury bags, sunglasses, hats, and more to complete your vacation wardrobe.
By Brooke Knappenberger
-
Our Experts Predicted the Top Fashion Trends of 2025—Now, They’re All Coming True
No crystal ball needed—our style experts have a clear vision of what's to come.
By Emma Childs
-
Can Emotional Support Accessories Get Me Through 2025?
Stuffed animals are for adults now.
By Halie LeSavage