Chanel Confirms Mary Janes Are This Summer’s Alternative To Strappy Sandals

Hands up who loves the naked strappy heel trend, but is intimidated by, well, their nakedness?

To that we say, firstly, your toes are probably actually fine, but secondly, same.

Thankfully, Chanel’s Cruise 2020 collection has confirmed that there is a delightful alternative to the minimalist strappy sandals that people seem to be pairing with everything this season—the Mary Jane shoe.

For Chanel’s Cruise 2019 collection, Mary Janes have been reintroduced to the runway—with flat and block heeled versions complementing the nautical designs. 

This time around, for Karl Lagerfeld’s successor Virginie Viard’s first show at the helm of the brand, models sported various iterations of the classic style, featuring pointed toes, contrasting colours and the whiff of a french heel.

Chanel Cruise 2020

Typically twee and ladylike, brands such as Prada, Erdem and Gucci have spent the last couple of seasons reimagining and embracing the shoe design, that features a strap over the arch of the foot.

According to The Independent: ‘The name comes from the shoes worn by Mary Jane, a character from the Buster Brown comic strip (drawn by R F Outcault) which first appeared in the New York Herald in 1902.’

Since then the shoe has enjoyed numerous reincarnations, worn in the ’20s by flappers, ’60s by Mary Quant and Twiggy, the ’90s by Courtney Love and the ’00s by Alexa Chung. 

Now, we can lay our claim to the iconic shape, and we’re considering styling them in the image of Love—complete with vintage slips and granny cardigans.

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This article first appeared on ELLE.