How Did Mary Jane Shoes Get Their Name?

The name Mary Jane has made its mark on culture in numerous ways: It’s the name one of Spider-Man’s main love interests, it’s one of the better-known slang terms for cannabis, and it’s an iconic shoe. These days, Mary Jane shoes—which are typically made of leather or patent leather, have a rounded, closed-toe tip, a low heel, and one strap across the instep—are often associated with school girls, but that wasn’t always the case. They weren’t even always called “Mary Janes.”

A Step in the Right Direction

Although the smart-looking shoes are now known as Mary Janes, they used to be called “Buster Browns” in reference to the main character of an eponymous newspaper comic strip from the early 1900s. The mischievous but well-dressed Buster Brown made his debut on May 4, 1902, in the New York Herald. Cartoonist Richard F. Outcault often drew both Buster and his sister Mary Jane (who was named and modeled after Outcault’s own daughter) wearing shoes that were then usually known as strap pumps.

This style of shoe had previously been sported by Alice in John Tenniel’s illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Prior to that it was popular during the Renaissance, with King Henry VIII of England donning a square-toed version of the shoe called “cow’s mouths.”

In 1904, Outcault sold the advertising rights for Buster Brown to the Brown Shoe Company (renamed Caleres in 2015), who used Buster and his dog, Tige, to market their children’s shoes. Buster Browns became the catch-all name for the various shoe styles sold by the company. Although the strappy shoes worn by both boys and girls were most commonly associated with the comic’s male protagonist, there are references to girls wearing shoes called “Mary Jane” pumps dating back to the 1910s.

The following decade the style was famously worn by Christopher Robin in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, written by A.A. Milne and illustrated by E.H. Shepard. A tap-dancing, 6-year-old Shirley Temple also wore strap pumps in Baby Take a Bow (1934) and Stand Up and Cheer! (1934). It was during the ’30s that boys stopped wearing the style, and as it came to be mainly marketed to girls, the name changed to Mary Janes.

If the Shoe Fits

Mary Janes have remained a staple of children’s footwear to this day—often showing up at elementary schools and formal events. But in the past century, they also made the jump to adult women’s feet and became an icon of the fashion world.

During the Roaring Twenties, trendy flappers paired Mary Janes with their short dresses and bobbed haircuts. In the ’60s, the shoe was worn by fashion-forward celebrities, such as Twiggy and Jane Birkin. Stylish Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) wears a pair of white T-bar Mary Janes to high school in the 1995 film Clueless. In a 2002 episode of Sex and the City, fashion-obsessed Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) gushes over a pair of high-heeled Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes. Manolo Blahnik isn’t the only high-end designer to have sold Mary Janes, with luxury brands including Prada, Chanel, and Louboutin also giving the shoe a chic makeover.

The history of Mary Janes makes them a natural fit for vintage and school-inspired outfits, but they’ve also been incorporated into various fashion styles, including grunge, Goth, and Lolita. The classic silhouette leaves plenty of room for modern tweaks—for instance, by adding stud embellishments or a chunky platform. The shoe’s unisex origins have even resurfaced in recent years, with male celebrities such as Harry Styles and Tyler, the Creator, hitting the red carpet in Mary Janes.

Read More About Fashion: