There's something about...

Mary Janes

For so many occasions, classic shoe is a perfect fit

By KATHY FLANIGAN Mary Janes are the little black dress of shoes - indispensable to a woman's wardrobe and irresistible to young girls who can't wait to get their first pair.
They're everywhere. Check out the selection of Mary Jane-style newborn socks from Trumpette or the Chanel-inspired toddler Mary Janes from Pazitos, both available at Freckle Face in the Third Ward.

"I get little girls in here who are 3-years-old, and they're all about shoes," said owner Deanna Inniss.
Or feast your eyes on Jimmy Choo's sleek platform Mary Janes, which are $695 online at www.jimmychoo.

com. And you thought he was just about the strappy stiletto.
Not feeling that girly?

Ecco, Merrill, Sketchers and others all make sportswear versions of the Mary Jane.
It's the shoe that can take a fashionista from cradle to grave.
The name "Mary Janes" comes from cartoonist Richard F.

Outcault's 1902 strip about a character named Buster Brown. Buster was a little rich boy. Mary Jane was his friend; Tige his dog.

In 1906, Outcault licensed the Buster Brown name and likeness to Brown Shoes, according to the Brown Shoe Company Web site. By 1919, ads for Buster Brown shoes featured full-color versions of the characters in ads for the shoe with the tell-tale strap across the instep.
Fast forward a century, and singer and trendsetter Fergie is waxing poetic about her love affair with Mary Jane shoes on her new CD, "The Dutchess.

" At least, we're fairly sure she's talking about her shoes.
"When I wear - my Mary Jane shoes . .

. " the song begins. "My heart and my soul.

They feel like I'm seven."
Rayna Morgan, who is 7, is wearing Mary Janes one recent day at Milwaukee's French Immersion School. She has two reasons for her appreciation of this particular shoe.

"Because they're pretty, and when I go to church I get to wear them," she said about her choice for the simple black shoes to go with her sparkly beige top and beige pants.
"I just wear them if my tennis shoes do not match me," she added.
Third-grader Kemari Lofton, 8, chose to wear Mary Janes with a slight heel and a glittery heart embellished on the straps while Donia Berkaoui, 5, accented her velvet dress with a simple pair of black Mary Janes.

Abby Uljanec, 9, also in velvet, chose white Mary Janes with square toes and a leaf embellishment on the strap. Aniela Memmel, 4, had flowers on her shoes - a variation of the Mary Jane only with a T-strap.
They chat simultaneously about their shoe choices - and, on a related subject, their love for trying on their mothers' high heels.

Alongside them is teacher Jill Mulhern, 54. She has a Mary Jane flat on her left foot and a cast from surgery on the other. She remembers the arguments she had as a child when her parents insisted on saddle shoes and what she really wanted were Mary Janes.

Mary Janes, she said, make "one feel more precious."
It's a girl thing.
"They never go out of style," said Billie Causieetsko, a celebrity stylist who has worked with Eva Mendes, Rosario Dawson and Venus Williams.

She is about to send a 60-something client out on the talk-show circuit and has already packed the appropriate Mary Janes for her.
"I think it brings out the little girl in us," Causieetsko said. "I actually call it the grown-up little girl shoes.

"
Deborah Porter thinks women feel secure wearing a Mary Jane style.
"It's almost like comfort food, if that makes any sense," Porter said. "Mary Janes are going to work regardless - if you're having a bad hair day or if you're 20 pounds overweight.

"
Shoes are both Porter's passion and business. She and daughter Emika own www.stepsistersshoes.

com, a Web site that allows women who wear a size 9 or larger to buy or sell gently used couture shoes. The passion started with Mary Janes.
"They are such a timeless classic," Porter said.

The key to the Mary Jane and its comfort, versatility and endurance rests with one thing - the strap across the instep, said Amy Casazzo, style expert for Marshall's.
This year's fall and winter fashions seem especially designed with the Mary Jane in mind.
Any version of the shoe - flats to trendy wedges - pairs well with the season's pencil skirts.

The shoes help keep the silhouette narrow, Causieetsko said. Top flowy pants with a fitted vintage-inspired jacket or feminine blouse for one look, but add Mary Janes to complete it. And those tights you're seeing everywhere - they work especially well with Mary Janes.

It's Causieetsko who mentions Fergie and "The Dutchess" CD.
"Even as trendy as she is, she mentions her love of Mary Janes," Causieetsko said. "And the Olsens (Mary Kate and Ashley).

I have actually seen them wear Mary Janes.
"It brings out the little girl in all of us.