In a Los Angeles Times Magazine article from 2002, Fred Slatten was 79 years old. That would make him 85 this year, and, joy of joys, he is still designing shoes!

Not long ago, I came across two shoe companies that Fred has recently designed for - X-It and Chocolat - and the designs are, indeed, unmistakably Fred. Now I have a new goal in life: to own a "new" pair of Fred Slatten shoes!

Back in the '70s, Fred Slatten Shoes was the place to buy platforms. Fred's roster of clients read like a "who's who" of the celebrity world: Elton John, Cher, Diana Ross, Bianca Jagger, Kiss, Buddy Miles, Ann Landers, Sally Struthers, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, The Runaways, Carol Burnett...and the list goes on and on.

For the groupie girls and wannabes at Rodney's English Disco, wearing Fred's shoes was mandatory. It was a fairly small store, but the visual merchandising had so much impact. Imagine, if you will, mirrored turntables with a mirrored disco ball twirling over each of the two front windows, reflecting the sun's rays on shoes with thousands of aurora borealis rhinestones. That was my very first impression of Fred Slatten's creations. Each time I walked by the shop, I would stop first and stand there, hypnotized, dreaming of what I would wear with each pair if they were mine, before continuing down the street.

When I worked for Fred during the Summer of 1975, his little store on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood had been open for several years; prior to that, Fred had been a shoe designer and buyer for several major companies, including Nordstrom, but Fred was (and still is, I imagine) a rebel who needed his own artistic outlet. Quite an imposing figure at 6'3" (and that was without the 5-inch platforms he frequently wore), to me, Fred was an unlikely face to match with the shoes he sold, but that was one of the best things about him. He was in no way a stereotype, and neither were his shoes, for that matter.

Nicole and Judy , the two "regular" girls, were such sweethearts - it is no wonder Gene Simmons stopped by on occasion just to chat with them ;D (My friend Shannon worked there on and off for a couple of years, as well, and no doubt she worked with many a celebrity herself...)

An afterword: Please, Fred, contact this website with pictures of your designs, old and new. We want to pay tribute to you in the grandest way possible, and that can only be done if everyone in cyberspace has the opportunity to behold your legacy.

~*~ Karen Danell ~*~