The flat shoes that never really go out of style, and where they came from.
By Shreya S · Last reviewed 15 November 2026
Where does the loafer come from?
From Norwegian moccasin-style shoes. The American brand G.H. Bass launched its Weejuns in 1936, and students slipped coins into the strap slot, creating the “penny loafer”. In 1953 Gucci added a metal horse-bit to the front, making the Horsebit loafer a status shoe for men and later women. Tod’s soft Gommino driving shoe, with rubber pebbles on the sole, followed in the late 1970s.
Who made ballet flats fashionable?
Rose Repetto, who began making ballet slippers in Paris in 1947. In 1956 she made a red pair, the Cendrillon, for Brigitte Bardot to wear in And God Created Woman, and the ballet flat moved from the studio to the street. Audrey Hepburn made it a symbol of gamine chic, and it has had revivals ever since, most recently with balletcore.
Why are they called Mary Janes?
After Mary Jane, a character in the American comic strip Buster Brown from the early 1900s; the Brown Shoe Company used the characters to sell children’s shoes. The strapped style moved into adult fashion in the 1920s and again in the 1990s and 2020s, helped by Miu Miu’s versions.
What about Chanel’s two-tone shoe?
Gabrielle Chanel’s beige slingback with a black toe cap, launched in 1957 with the shoemaker Massaro. The beige lengthens the leg, the black makes the foot look smaller and hides scuffs. It exists as a low-heeled slingback and as a ballerina, and is one of the house’s lasting codes. See shoe styles, A to Z.
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