Dhruv Kapoor’s new hybrid Mary Jane shoes are for everyone

Designer Dhruv Kapoor takes us through creating limited-edition Mary Janes for a collaboration with Johnnie Walker Blonde Non-Alcoholic Lemonade, his new flagship store, and what inspired his upcoming collection

Think back to what you wore to school. Crisp shirts, starched pinafores, bright white socks, and of course, a pair of smart, shiny black Mary Jane shoes. The shoe carries unmistakable girlhood nostalgia, and over the last few years, has made a noticeable return to everyone’s closets; in a spectrum of colours, bolder prints and with shinier buckles. 

A limited-edition merchandise collaboration between Johnnie Walker Blonde Non-Alcoholic Lemonade and New Delhi-based designer Dhruv Kapoor now has Mary Janes take the spotlight, with the vision of celebrating individual style and self-expression. 

“For me, working on the collaboration was about freedom of expression and progress. That is how we work on design as a brand as well,” says Dhruv, of their shared beliefs.  

This time around, the Mary Janes are not just for the girls. Made of handcrafted leather in blue with a pop of yellow on the insoles, the hybrid shoes are a reflection of Dhruv’s design language, which champions modern dressing, androgynous silhouettes and gender-fluid dressing.  

“Mary Janes were traditionally associated or rigid towards being a feminine shoe. And that’s a memory or a familiarity that we all remember from school because I remember every girl in class had Mary Janes which was a part of the uniform. I wanted to pick up something that has that rigid association and reperceive it,” Dhruv says. “We picked up the women’s uniform shoe, and the men’s shoe or what I wore; a traditional Oxford or a brogue, and the collaborative result was this,” he adds. 

The shoes come in an electric blue padded backpack, which comes with colourful detachable charms and enamel pins. “ I did not want somebody to just get the shoes and discard the packaging, so we thought about how we can add more value to the packaging and promote prolonged use. We wanted to make this cooler, younger and a little more ‘everyday’, and the charms and pins are something the users can choose from the mix we are offering, or even use some of their own to personalise the bag,” Dhruv says.