Historical information

These baby shoes show evidence of once having an additional embellishment on the toe, such as a bow, flower or pom pom.

The label written into the bottom of the shoe indicates that it was made by Everbest. Everbest is a shoe company that was established in 1979 in Singapore and primarily sells in South East Asia. Their brand is centred around timeless elegance and quality, which this pair of baby shoes is in keeping with. The Mary Jane shoe was popularised in the early 20th century as a shoe for children regardless of gender. They began to be known as Mary Jane's because of the character of Mary Jane in the Mary Jane and Buster Brown comics, a series of advertisements by the Brown Shoe Company in the USA.
They remain a classic style for women and children.

Significance

These shoes are a record of a small part of the social history of Chiltern, as well as show the continuing popularity of this style of shoe through time. They are also a record that a product of a Singaporean company that primary sells in other countries in South East Asia was able to travel all the way to regional Victoria and be present in the collection of the Chiltern Athenaeum.

Physical description

Pair of pink leather mary jane style baby shoes with gold metallic label on inner sole

Inscriptions & markings

Inner Sole:
Lesley Everbest /
Baby Shoe /
Size 0