The Best Mary Jane Flats Are Equal Parts Sensible and Sassy

Shop our favorite options ranging from The Row to Rothy's.

Women wearing Mary Jane flats by Vagabond
(Image credit: Larroudé)

Indulge us for a moment and ponder the personalities of fall's key shoe silhouettes. Platform heels are the party girl, always begging to "keep the night going!" with one more round. Low-top, slender sneakers are the friend that keeps taps on up-and-coming sports fads (she's very into pickleball at the moment). Then there are Mary Jane-style ballet flats: she's sensible, occasionally sassy, and has a healthy relationship with her inner child. In fall 2023's shoe trend landscape, the latter lady takes the majority of the spotlight. And as styles hit the market in preparation for fall, the best Mary Jane flats of the season are making themselves apparent.

Aeyde, a minimalistic leather goods brand, is a favorite amongst fashion folks for its timeless square-toe flat Uma. There's French label Repetto, too, which offers a sleek, near-identical iteration of its iconic ballet flats save for a lone snap-button fastening. For the more statement dressers, there is a slew of Mary Jane flats boasting more maximal touches: Larrroudé's Blair comes in mirror-like silver specchio.

Ahead, we spotlight more brands that offer cute but not too cute takes on the girlish shoe. Find a well-researched and comprehensive guide to shopping the very best Mary Janes below.

The Best Mary Jane Flats

Emma Childs
Style Editor

Emma Childs is the Style Editor at Marie Claire, where she researches up-and-coming trends, curates shopping guides, and gushes about the must-buy items she can't stop thinking about. She previously wrote for TZR, Editorialist, Elite Daily, and Mission Magazine and studied Fashion Studies and New Media at Fordham University. When she's not writing up fashion deep-dives or finding the season's best pieces, you'll find her fiddling around in Photoshop and perusing HBO Max for the next show to base her personality on (currently, it's "Succession").