Madison Beer was perfectly holiday ready at a seasonal party thrown by Kate Spade New York on Dec. 15. Others at the party included Taylor Quitara, Armani Richardson, Chase Marie Wise and Liv Reese. The singer popped in to the event at the Rockefeller Center store wearing quite a number of pieces from the brand. Over she wore a spaghetti strapped sequined dress, she wore a double breasted wool coat from Kate Spade as well as a suede shoulder bag from the brand.
For shoes Beer, who stars in Kate Spade’s holiday campaign, chose a pair of the company’s Renata Mary Jane ballet flats. The shoes are made of satin. The feature a leather lining and a small heel of just a quarter of an inch. They also include the titular Mary Jane strap across the foot. Most noticeably, the shoe features a crystal-embellished buckle on the vamp of each.
Ballet flats and Mary Jane styles are both considered quite feminine silhouettes. The ballet flat hails from ballet and is thought to have first been proposed for everyday wear by designers like Salvatore Capezio when he was commissioned by designer Claire McCardell in 1941 as well as Valentyna Sanina-Schlee, a Ukranian-American designer who was previously a ballet dancer. By 1947, Rose Repetto had begun to make them with rubber soles, creating the modern day ballet flat.
The silhouette has gone in and out of fashion but has been trending heavily over the past few years. This has been a part of the ongoing balletcore trend. But in practice, the ballet flat trend has notably led by the Maison Alaia ballet flats which are released in a variety of colorways and with a cornucopia of embellishments every season. Under artistic director Pieter Mulier, the label began releasing ballet flats in May 2022 and it has turned into a cult-favorite. It has often sold out.
Alaia’s La Ballerine, like the Kate Spade Renata, includes a Mary Jane strap.
Mary Jane silhouettes have a long history but in 1904 they were dubbed Mary Janes by the Brown Shoe Company. That Missouri-based brand named them after the cartoon Mary Jane from the Buster Brown comics. Since then, they also went in and out of fashion being popular in the 1920s, 1930s, 1960s and 1990s amongst other time periods for children as well as adult women.
