Mary Jane Shoes for Women

The M77 Gigi in Make Up leather, worn with tights, the way most Mary Janes are worn from October on.

Mary Jane shoes for women come back every autumn, and the reason is practical before it is fashionable. A strap across the foot holds the shoe on, so you can walk in a low heel or a flat without gripping with your toes. That only works when the strap, the toe and the heel suit your foot. Get those three right and a Mary Jane is one of the most wearable shoes you can own. Get them wrong and the strap digs in, the heel slips, or the toe pinches by lunchtime.

We write this guide from the workshop side. Antelope is an American footwear house in Stamford, Connecticut, and the Mary Janes below are handcrafted in leather, suede and hand-woven uppers. Every strap, toe and heel described here is taken from the shoes themselves and from our own photographs of them on the foot.

What Are Mary Jane Shoes for Women?

A Mary Jane is a closed, low-cut shoe with one or more straps across the instep, usually fastened with a buckle, made flat, heeled or on a platform.

The reference entry on Mary Jane shoes lists the other names it goes by, bar shoes, strap shoes and doll shoes, and traces the name to the Mary Jane character in Richard Felton Outcault's Buster Brown comic strip, whose characters the Brown Shoe Company licensed more than a century ago.

Two details define the shoe. The upper is closed over the toes and cut low at the sides, and a strap crosses the instep and fastens. Everything else, the heel, the toe shape and the material, can change. That is why the same word covers a flat school shoe, a low heel for the office and a chunky platform.

It helps to separate the Mary Jane from two shoes it is often confused with.

Ballet flat. No strap. The shoe stays on by the fit of the topline around the foot, which is why ballet flats tend to slip at the heel on some feet. If that has happened to you, a Mary Jane flat solves it with the strap. Our guide to comfortable ballet flats covers the strapless shape.

Mary Jane pump. The same instep strap on a pump, a heeled shoe with a closed toe. Most of what is sold as low heel mary jane shoes falls here.

Types of Mary Jane Shoes

The types of mary jane shoes for women fall into five groups. The table matches each to the day it suits and to the pair that represents it.

Type	What defines it	Best for	In this guide
Classic low heel	One strap, a block heel of about 2 inches	Office days, dinners, a full day on your feet	M77 Gigi
Cut-out	An open side behind the strap	A lighter look with trousers and cropped hems	O44 Sarah
Platform	A thick base under the whole foot, lift at a gentler angle	Height without a steep heel	Q82 Preston
Pointed flat	A pointed toe on a flat sole	Tailoring, a sharper line with trousers	J14 Lorelei
Woven or ruched flat	A textured upper on a flat or near-flat sole	Weekends, travel, warm autumn days	J01 Daphne, T30 Mila

Where the Strap Should Sit

The strap does one job. It holds your heel in the shoe while you walk, so your toes do not have to grip. Where it crosses your foot decides how well it does that job and whether you feel it by the end of the day.

On most feet the strap sits best across the instep, the arched top of the foot between the ankle and the toes, a little forward of its highest point. There it holds the heel down without pressing where the foot bends at the ankle. A strap that lands right on the highest point of a high instep tends to dig in. A strap set too far forward toward the toes holds less, and the heel can lift.

The shoe-fit advice from foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeons gives the test to use at home. Your heel should not slip or slide as you walk, and the ball of your foot, the widest part just before the toes, should fit the widest part of the shoe. Walk across a hard floor in the pair with the strap fastened. If the heel lifts, the strap is in the wrong place for your foot or the shoe is too long.

If you have a high instep, look for a strap set further forward, at the width of the foot. The M77 Gigi is built that way, with the strap at the width of the foot rather than across the arch, which is why it is the pair we suggest first to women who have felt a strap dig in before.

If your heels slip out of flats, a Mary Jane is the answer, and the strap needs to sit snugly. Fasten it and slide a finger underneath. One finger should fit comfortably, two should not.

Whichever pair the quiz suggests, look at the strap first. The short clip below turns the M77 Gigi in black leather, so you can see where the strap crosses the foot, the buckle and eyelets, and the shape of the heel.

Black Mary Jane Shoes Buckle Strap Low Heel #Shorts

The M77 Gigi in black leather, filmed from every angle. Watch where the strap crosses the foot, the buckle and brass eyelets, and the shape of the sculpted heel.

• Hand-brushed leather upper
• Buckle strap with brass eyelets
• Rounded closed toe
• 2 inch sculpted heel
• Padded insole

Shop the shoes collection →

The strap is the detail to watch in that clip. It crosses at the width of the foot rather than over the arch, the placement described above for a high instep, which is what keeps it from digging in through a long day.

Toe Shape and Your Foot

Toe shape decides how much room your toes have, and it changes how the length of the shoe works on your foot.

Round toe. The most room across the toes and the most forgiving shape. It is the traditional Mary Jane toe, and the one to choose if your toes are wide or you will be on your feet all day. The M77 Gigi and the J01 Daphne are round.

Almond toe. A softly tapered round toe. It looks longer and slimmer on the foot while keeping most of the room of a round toe. The O44 Sarah is almond.

Pointed toe. The sharpest line and the least room at the tip. The point extends beyond your toes, so the toes themselves sit where the shoe begins to narrow. Make sure the widest part of your foot still meets the widest part of the shoe. The J14 Lorelei is pointed.

Whatever the shape, leave room at the front. Foot and ankle surgeons recommend 3/8 to 1/2 inch between your longest toe and the end of the shoe, and they advise against counting on a shoe to stretch. Shop for fit at the end of the day, when feet are at their largest, and fit the larger of your two feet.

If your feet are wide, start with a round toe and a low block heel, and read our guide to shoes for wide feet before you choose a size.

Low Heel, Flat or Platform

Heel height decides how many hours a Mary Jane is wearable. Every inch of heel moves more of your weight forward onto the ball of the foot, and the strap is what stops the foot sliding forward with it. That is why low heel mary jane shoes feel steadier than a pump of the same height.

A flat, or a near-flat at around half an inch, is the choice for long walks, travel and days with no plan. A block heel of about 2 inches gives visible lift and still gets you through a full working day. Above that, platform mary jane shoes do some of the work, lifting the front of the foot as well, so the angle your foot sits at is gentler than the heel height suggests.

The width of the heel matters as much as its height. A block heel puts a broad base on the ground, so your ankle does less correcting with each step, which is why every heeled pair in this guide stands on a block, a sculpted block or a platform rather than a slim heel.

The heel ladder, in stock now

Shoe	Type	Heel	Best for	Price
T30 Mila	Ruched leather flat	Flat	Errands, warm days	$59
J14 Lorelei	Pointed suede flat	Flat	Tailoring, the office	$219
J01 Daphne	Woven flat	0.5 inch	Travel, weekends	$99
M77 Gigi	Classic low heel	2 inch sculpted	Full working days	$199
O44 Sarah	Cut-out low heel	2 inch block	Days in trousers	$189
Q82 Preston	Platform	3 inch on a platform	Height at a gentler angle	$199

If you are unsure, 2 inches on a block is the answer for a Mary Jane you will wear every week. It is enough lift for trousers and skirts alike and low enough to walk in, which is why the M77 Gigi and the O44 Sarah both sit at that height. If you prefer the heel without the strap, our guides to low heel pumps and block heel pumps cover the strapless versions.

The platform shape has more in common with a clog than with a pump, and for more chunky shapes on a wide base you can browse Antelope clogs and mules.

Leather, Suede or Woven

Material decides the season a Mary Jane belongs to and how it changes with wear.

Hand-brushed leather. The M77 Gigi and the O44 Sarah are hand-brushed, which gives the leather a slightly uneven depth of colour that reads as made rather than manufactured. Leather mary jane shoes mould to the foot over the first weeks and wipe clean, so leather is the material for a pair you will wear from autumn through spring.

Suede. Softer from the first wear, with a matte, velvety finish, as on the navy J14 Lorelei. It looks warm with tights in autumn but wants a protective spray before rain. Our guide on how to care for suede covers the routine.

Woven. A hand-woven upper like the J01 Daphne's has texture you can see from across a room and makes the pair for warm autumn days, weekends and travel.

Ruched leather. Gathered leather softens the look of a flat and adds texture without hardware, as on the T30 Mila.

Comfortable Mary Jane Shoes for Work and Walking

Comfortable mary jane shoes for women share four things. A strap that holds the heel without pressing, a toe with room, a heel you can walk in, and cushioning under the foot. Every pair in this guide has a padded or cushioned insole, and every one is either flat or stands on a block or a platform.

For the office. Mary jane shoes for work are the alternative to a pump for women who want polish without a slim heel. A 2 inch block in dark leather, the M77 Gigi or the O44 Sarah in black, works with tailoring and dresses alike. A pointed flat like the J14 Lorelei is the sharper choice with cropped trousers. Our wider guide to comfortable work shoes for women covers loafers and pumps as well.

For walking. Choose the flattest pair that suits the outfit and use the heel test from the strap section above. A Mary Jane is steadier than a ballet flat on a long walk because the strap keeps the shoe on, so your toes are not gripping with every step. For more comfortable all-day shoes, see our guide to the pairs women wear from morning to evening.

For wide feet. A round toe, a strap you can fasten without it pulling across the foot, and the larger size if you fall between two.

How to Wear Mary Jane Shoes

Mary jane shoes for women work with more of a wardrobe than their reputation suggests. Here is how to wear mary jane shoes through autumn and into winter.

With tights

The classic pairing. Opaque tights in the same tone as the shoe lengthen the leg, and a contrasting colour, like the blue tights in the photograph at the top of this guide, makes the shoe the point of the outfit. A low heel with tights and a knee-length skirt is the most traditional way to wear a Mary Jane.

With socks

Mary jane shoes with socks are the autumn look. Fine ribbed ankle socks in cream, grey or a colour picked from the outfit sit just above the strap. Keep the sock thin so the shoe still fits, and let it show above the strap rather than bunching underneath. Mary jane shoes with socks look most deliberate when the sock colour repeats something else in the outfit. Our guide on how to style shoes with socks goes further.

With jeans

Straight or wide jeans that end at the ankle leave the strap visible, which is the whole point. Platform mary jane shoes like the Q82 Preston hold their own under a wider leg, and a flat like the T30 Mila keeps it casual.

With a skirt or dress

A midi skirt with low heel mary jane shoes is the easiest outfit in this guide. With a shorter skirt, add tights and keep the heel low.

At the office

Tailored trousers that end at the ankle bone, with leather mary jane shoes on a 2 inch heel in black or brown. The strap reads as a detail rather than a statement.

Colour Through the Seasons

Black leather mary jane shoes are the workhorse. Black goes with every pair of dark tights and every dark trouser, and four of the six pairs in this guide come in it, the M77 Gigi, the O44 Sarah, the J01 Daphne and the T30 Mila.

Navy is the softer alternative to black, and it sits well with grey or navy tights. Neutral shades like Make Up, Camel and Taupe lighten an autumn outfit and look natural with bare legs on warm days. Bronze and Silver turn a flat into an evening shoe. And the brown and white print of the Q82 Preston is the one to choose if you want the shoe to be the first thing people notice.

Six Pairs, From Flat to Platform

These six mary jane shoes for women cover every answer above. Two low heels, one platform and three flats, in leather, suede and woven uppers, with a strap on every one.

M77 Gigi, the everyday low heel

Hand-brushed leather, a rounded closed toe and a buckle strap set with brass eyelets, on a 2 inch sculpted wood-effect heel. The strap sits at the width of the foot rather than across the arch, and a padded insole sits inside. In Black, Camel and Make Up, US 5 to 10, $199. See the M77 Gigi.

O44 Sarah, the cut-out

Hand-brushed leather with an almond toe and an open cut-out at the side behind the buckle strap, which makes it lighter on the foot and lighter to look at. A 2 inch low block heel, a padded footbed and a rubber outsole. In Black and Taupe, US 5 to 10, $189. See the O44 Sarah.

Q82 Preston, the platform

Premium leather with a closed toe and a buckle strap across the foot, on a wide platform that tapers at the side for a 3 inch heel height. A padded insole sits inside. In Black Coffee, a brown and white print, and Make Up, US 5 to 10, $199. See the Q82 Preston.

J14 Lorelei, the pointed flat

Navy suede with a pointed toe and slim crossed straps over the instep, fastened with a small buckle. Inside, a latex-cushioned insole and a breathable lining, and underneath, a flexible rubber sole. US 5 to 10, $219. See the J14 Lorelei.

J01 Daphne, the woven flat

A hand-woven upper with a round toe and a thin buckle strap, on a 0.5 inch sole with a cushioned latex insole lined in leather. In Black and Taupe, US 5 to 10, $99. See the J01 Daphne.

T30 Mila, the value flat

Leather with a soft ruched detail and a slim buckle strap, over a latex-cushioned insole. In Black, Bronze and Silver, with sizes 5, 6, 7 and 9 in stock, $59. See the T30 Mila.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Mary Jane shoes?

A closed, low-cut shoe with one or more straps across the instep, usually fastened with a buckle. The name comes from the Mary Jane character in the Buster Brown comic strip, and the shoe is also called a bar shoe, strap shoe or doll shoe. Mary Janes come as flats, low heels and platforms.

Where should the strap sit on a Mary Jane?

Across the instep, a little forward of the highest point of the top of your foot, and snug enough that your heel does not lift as you walk. If a strap presses into the top of a high instep, choose a style whose strap sits further forward, at the width of the foot, like the M77 Gigi.

Are Mary Jane shoes comfortable for walking?

Yes. Comfortable mary jane shoes are often easier to walk in than ballet flats, because the strap holds the shoe on and your toes do not have to grip. For long walks choose a flat or a low block heel, a round or almond toe, and a cushioned insole.

What heel height is most comfortable in a Mary Jane?

For most women, a block heel of about 2 inches is the height that works for a full day. A flat suits long walks, and a platform gives more height at a gentler angle, because the front of the foot is lifted too.

How do you wear Mary Jane shoes with socks?

Choose a thin ankle sock, ribbed or fine knit, that sits just above the strap. Cream, grey or a colour taken from the outfit works best. Keep the sock thin so the fit of the shoe does not change.

Can you wear Mary Janes with jeans?

Yes. Choose jeans that end at or just above the ankle so the strap shows. A flat suits straight jeans for a casual look, and a platform holds its own under a wider leg.

Are Mary Janes good for wide feet?

They can be. Choose a round toe, make sure the widest part of your foot meets the widest part of the shoe, and check that the strap fastens without pulling across the foot. If you are between sizes, take the larger.

Are Mary Janes appropriate for work?

Yes. A Mary Jane with a 2 inch block heel in black or brown leather is as polished as a pump and easier to walk in. A pointed flat is the sharper choice with tailored trousers.

What is the difference between a Mary Jane and a ballet flat?

The strap. A ballet flat has no strap and stays on by the fit of its topline, while a Mary Jane has a strap across the instep that holds the heel in place. Mary Janes also come with heels and platforms, while a ballet flat is always flat.

Do Mary Janes stretch?

Leather and suede soften and mould to the foot with wear, but foot and ankle surgeons advise against buying a shoe on the expectation that it will stretch. Choose the size that fits on the first day.

How much do Mary Jane shoes cost at Antelope?

The mary jane shoes for women in this guide range from $59 for the T30 Mila to $219 for the J14 Lorelei. The low heels and the platform are $189 to $199, and shipping is free in the US on orders over $80.

What if my Mary Janes don't fit?

Antelope orders can be returned within 30 days, and your first exchange is free, so you can try another size if the first pair is not right.