On a number of occasions when reading books by American authors I have read about girls in their Mary Janes. I have, and I think correctly, realised that they are shoes of some sort. I thought that I knew what they were but recently decided to check on Google and now I am totally confused as I came up with a brand name and lots of other shoes by other makers, all the styles were different. To the American women out there (for presumably this is a girly thing), if a girl wore her Mary Janes what would you take this to mean? If you can find me a link to a photo so much the better. Linda1 kindly found me a photo of wingtips, it turned out that they were brogues. Oh, and on the subject of shoes, penny loafers, what are those?

Ohhh---> I haven't a clue on the Mary Janes. But I do know about Penny Loafers! They are a slip-on sorta dress/casual men's shoe where, instead of shoe laces, there is this little slot where it used to be fashionable to slide a penny into it. No real idea what the purpose was of that though. Good luck, maybe? They are way out of fashion now, however.

Mary Janes are low heeled shoes for girls. Usually have a strap across the top.
I haven't heard that term for eons.

Mary Janes
Penny Loafers

The Mary Jane Shoe Page
I always think of black patent leather, like the ones at the top left of this page. Mine weren't quite so clunky though.

I want to know where the person whose page Julia linked to gets her Mary Janes! Those are my favorite style of shoe. I have a pair of wing tipped Mary Janes that I wear constantly.

When I was growing up, the black patent leather Mary Janes were dress-up shoes, to be worn with a party dress and white anklets--typically a little girl would not have worn Mary Janes to my school. My family could not afford "party shoes" for me, so I never had a pair. But, when I was about 9, I would look longingly at those shoes ever time I passed a shoe store window.

As an adult I've never worn that style shoe. The moment for them had come and gone.

I didn't have a pair as a child either, CB. Maybe that's why I love them so much now.