Talk:Mary Jane (shoe)

Plagiarism

The history section appears to be a direct lift from the first couple of paragraphs of this website Brown Shoe Company Perhaps a reword is in order? ++Lar 05:41, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

Several problems with this article:

• "Most stylish" is POV.
• The Buster Brown and Mary Jane characters were not created by the Brown Shoe Co., but by comic strip artist Richard F. Outcault, who sold these characters to several companies for use in advertising. This section also needs to explain Mary Jane wore the style of shoes that came to be named after her.
• This sounds like original research: "These styles were especially popular in the United States in the late-1990s and early-2000s, within punk rock, psychobilly, and goth subcultures. Many times the wearers would accent the look with knee-high knit socks in dark-colored stripes or patterns and often complete the look with a plaid, pleated schoolgirl-style skirt." The tone this is written in suggests personal observation, as does the date given. The popularity of these styles in those cultures predated this, and it sounds like someone is basing this on the time they were first exposed to it. And I wouldn't limit the mention to these subcultures only, so a 'for example' would be necessary before listing punk, goth etc. But this whole section needs references and/or a rewrite, anyway.-
• The we are the Kinderwhore and Lolita fashion the we are Mary Jane Shoes

Spikedcandy 08:37, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Rewrote Etymology section. I found several sources mentioning Mary Janes were named after the Buster Brown character, but none explained how exactly. This would be a great addition, if anyone has reliable info. I found one mention that Brown Shoe Co. actually released a line of shoes called Mary Janes, but couldn't verify this. -Spikedcandy 08:55, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Invented history

When the etymology of the name dates it, at the very earliest, to the early twentieth century (although no precise date is in fact given, so the origin of the term could be much later) it is a fiction to quote historical 'examples' of 'Mary Jane' shoes having been worn well before the coining of the name.

In fact the examples appear all to be an attempt to invent a non-existent 'history' for a comparatively recent commercial product.