Phil Oh | @mrstreetpeeper
The girlish shoe has become a favourite for some very stylish grown-ups.
For every person willing to risk a little vertigo for a fabulous pair of platforms, there’s a flat shoe obsessive keeping their feet firmly (and elegantly) on the ground. This year, countless celebrities joined the latter camp, choosing classic Mary-Janes over vertiginous stilettos.
Zoë Kravitz and Jennifer Lawrence are both fans of The Row’s Ava style, made from buttery leather and with a sweet buckled strap. Among the many women whose head was turned by the Manhattanites’ flats? British Vogue’s executive fashion news and features editor Alice Newbold, who this year “upped my Repetto game with a pair from The Row.” For Alice, “Zoë’s way of styling the school-girlish Avas with ankle socks had me convinced that they were a sensible year-round shoe, and wholly worth the investment”.
Elsewhere, versions from Doên and Le Monde Beryl—as seen on Kaia Gerber and Daisy Edgar-Jones—are slipper-like in shape, but elevated by a velvet outer that makes them very much a shoe for wearing outside the house. Doên’s pairs are an “upgraded version” of those that founders—and sisters—Margaret and Katherine Kleveland wore as children, while Mary-Janes have long been a signature for Le Monde Beryl.
If heels are non-negotiable for you, seek out Mary-Janes from Prada, Miu Miu and Carel. Blocky heels are best to emphasize the classic shoe’s girlish origins—see Alexa Chung at the Fashion Awards, wearing sturdy Mary-Jane heels with her Prada minidress and sheer cover-up. A chic shoe that’s versatile enough to take you from walking the dog (Kravitz) to walking the red carpet (Chung)? A justifiable investment.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
