How Ballet Flats and Mary Janes are Sparking a Round-Toe Resurgence

For the past few years, the fashion girl's uniform has consisted of low-rise baggy jeans and a pointed toe. Whether the style came first and collaborations came second, or the other way round, the it-girl combo saw a slew of silhouettes driving the pointed-toe trend forward. Drops like 2022's Melissa and Y/Project's pointed jelly mules and Ancuta Sarca's sneaker heels once felt like the pinnacle of footwear and now, these styles seem to be quietly relegated to the back of our wardrobes.

In fact, if we look at fashion's current footwear obsessions, we can see the likes of Crocs and UGG dominating the landscape, along with silhouettes like PUMA's Speedcat Ballerina and the many iterations of the Mary-Jane. One common theme begins to emerge: the rounded toe. So, when did we all begin to adopt this style as fashion's new favorite silhouette? We chart it down to a few key moments...

First: a rising obsession with ballet flats. As a result of the balletcore trend, more and more brands began to experiment with bringing back ballet flats, this time through different textures and fabrications that we might not have seen for a while. Examples of this include the studded black pair propelled to fame by alaia and *that* red bow pair from Jacquemus, which debuted at the brand's Fall/Winter 2023 show. The ballet flats revival is still ongoing, evidenced by recent collaborations from Melissa and Nodaleto, plus the first-ever footwear range from Barcelona-based label, LAAGAM.

Next up, the mesh slipper resurgence. We explored this back in 2024, attributing it to a rise in older fashion influences, releases from alaia and The Row and an ongoing obsession with the past. For the most part, today's fashion trends are increasingly rooted in nostalgia, and the mesh slippers reminded us of a simpler time, when fashion felt more playful and childlike.

Finally, the return of the Mary-Jane. The silhouette has quietly been rising through the ranks in the last year or so, but towards the end of 2024, we noticed a major spike in its popularity, primarily driven by collaborations from Sandy Liang, Cecilie Bahnsen and MM6 Maison Margiela. From these collaborations, of which the majority were released in 2024, we noticed an increase in more commercial iterations of the silhouette released by the likes of UGG, PUMA and Onitsuka Tiger.

When speaking to designer Cecilie Bahnsen about the Mary Jane's appeal, her answer was simple. "The Mary Jane has always carried a sense of nostalgia for me—a silhouette rooted in tradition and femininity," she told us. It appears that the link to femininity isn't just reserved for the MJ, but rather for round-toed silhouettes in general. In fact, the round-toe resurgence actually forms part of the wider shift to a return to girlhood, something we've seen explored through film, fashion and footwear in the last few years.

It seems there's something about pointed toes that just screams rebellion, confidence and a little edge. On the flip side, rounded toes, commonly seen through ballet flats and Mary Janes, seem to evoke a sense of softness and femininity -- something we're more accepting of these days. As a result, round toes have been reclaimed and our softer sides empowered, leading to a rise in nostalgia-driven designs and childlike silhouettes.

Overall, the shift towards the round toe is rooted in acceptance, playfulness and a more positive perception of girlhood -- a sentiment that extends far beyond just a product-based trend and instead is a signal of something much more powerful.

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