When Did Mary Janes Make a Comeback?
We unpack the return of the nostalgic silhouette, featured in collaborations from Sandy Liang, Cecilie Bahnsen, UGG, Ambush, Margiela and more.
Fashion is cyclical — we know this to be true — and what this often means is that we’re never too far away from a popular silhouette of the past making a comeback. In the last few years, the Mary Jane has done just that, featuring in almost every female designer’s footwear offering from Yoon Ahn and Sandy Liang to Cecilie Bahnsen and Taqwa Bint Ali.
As hybrid footwear becomes the norm and more brands and designers are looking at ways to merge the classic sneaker with other silhouettes, we’ve spotted a significant rise in the Mary Jane design, often categorized through an open upper and velcro strap. Once solely associated with the wardrobes of kids and school uniforms, the Mary Jane has become a more than acceptable choice for adults and kids alike. But when did that change?
Back in 2023, we explored the shift towards dressing like school kids, popularized by the likes of Bahnsen, Ahn and Liang. For those designers, our school days were used as a source of inspiration and as a result, we saw more and more collections referencing pleated skirts, button-up shirts and of course: Mary Jane shoes.
Along with that, films like Barbie and Priscilla and music icons like Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo began to influence a new era of girlhood, one rooted in self-acceptance and female empowerment. Elsewhere, people like Sofia Coppola, Nadia Lee Cohen and a new generation of rappers like GloRilla and Sexyy Red began to change our perception of empowerment, encouraging us to take back control of our femininity and sensuality.
With that, silhouettes that seemed to represent femininity became popularized, with the Mary Jane being one of the ultimate symbols of this. For designer Cecilie Bahnsen, it was that symbolism and duality that drew her to the silhouette when designing her ASICS collaborations.
“The Mary Jane has always carried a sense of nostalgia for me—a silhouette rooted in tradition and femininity. When we began designing our first collaboration sneaker with ASICS back in 2022, we started by experimenting with different shapes by cutting into the shoe. From here, it naturally evolved, and it felt both unexpected and completely intuitive,” she tells us.
“It wasn’t really a thing back then, but to me, it made perfect sense: a balance of romance and practicality, softness and sport. That tension is something I often explore in my work, using femininity to reimagine and reshape familiar forms. Reworking such a classic feminine shape as the Mary Jane into a sneaker felt both instinctive and exciting—showing how delicate details can redefine function, and softening structure without sacrificing strength. Seeing how this silhouette continues to resonate is a reminder of how timeless reinvention can be,” Bahnsen continued.
Along with Bahnsen, the MJ has been the focus of plenty of other footwear collaborations, most notably Salomon and MM6 Maison Margiela, UGG x AMBUSH and Sandy x Salomon plus Heaven by Marc Jacobs’ team-ups with both Kiko Kostadinov and Dr. Martens. Now, we’re seeing the silhouette appear outside of collaborations, most recently launched in a “ballerina” silhouette by PUMA along with UGG and Timberland.
Speaking about the decision to create its first Mary Jane, the Timberland design team cites “the return of the prep trend” as part of their inspiration, along with its seasonal versatility and fusion of casual and formal aesthetics. As we know from seeing the popularity of the sneaker loafer (or snoafer, if you’re so inclined,) we can safely say that more and more footwear lovers are looking to blend the casual with the formal instead of having to choose between them — with the Mary Jane providing the perfect feminine yet sporty middle ground.
As for the future of the Mary Jane, we can’t be certain — but for now, they’re not going anywhere.
