From TV Guide, November 15, 1975

R-R-Really Big Shoes

In fashion, this is the year of the big dress. In Hollywood, it is the year of the big shoe for Fred Slatten (top left), who shoes some of the richest feet in town. The red-kid pair he's holding, sporting 5000 rhinestones and 8-inch heels, costs $275, but Slatten also makes economy models (the 4000-rhinestone, 7-inch-heelers topping this column are only $250). Bottom left: Carol Burnett and Cher wear Fred's $225 silver slippers on camera. Sally Struthers (top right) shows off her red-kid, hand-painted pair with rhinestone letters, and (bottom near right) her pearl-and-satin jobs. Slatten's hole-in-the-wall wedgie (center) is of laminated wood with decoupage sides and a $90 price tag. For Elton John, Slatten made this yellow-orange-and-red pair (far right), using acrylic paint and the inevitable rhinestones. Not every Slatten customer is rich and famous but all of them are well-heeled.

From Los Angeles Times Magazine,
March 10, 2002

Living On The Wedge: When Platform Shoes Ruled Tinseltown

by Susan Campo
Photos by Duncan Stewart

Unfortunately, today's platform shoe devotees don't have Fred Slatten's shop to clomp around in anymore. The premier platform designer in '70s L.A., Slatten held court for more than 20 years in a former pet store near Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards. When he first opened Fred Slatten Shoes in 1970, the area wasn't yet prime shopping turf, but the shop got noticed - not surprisingly, since it was lit 24 hours a day, with a rainbow of platforms spinning on turntables in the display windows. "Before we knew it, we had a captive audience," he says.

"There was every shape, every color," recalls Slatten aficionado Sally Struthers, who wore Slatten creations as Gloria Bunker Stivic in "All in the Family". "Leather, satin, marabou, glitter - you got one pair and you couldn't stop."

There were shoes with real goldfish in their wedges and live birds in their heels. Shoes painted with city skylines or the faces of David Bowie or Marilyn Monroe, shoes découpaged and shoes diamanté'd. There were also boots. "Nancy Sinatra was our biggest customer," says Slatten, who worked as a buyer for Bullock's and later as a wholesaler before opening his store.

Cher indulged; Sonny, too. Diana Ross, Barbara Streisand, Goldie Hawn, Marvin Gaye and Lana Turner ("the only customer we kept the store open late for") were all fans, Slatten says. "Then there was this little pudgy guy who turned out to be Elton John," he laughs. "He bought every shoe we ever made." Playboy playmates shopped by the passel. "Every centerfold for 15 years wore our shoes. Barbi Benton wanted a pair that lit up, so we powered them by batteries." Each sales assistant had an individually decorated office - a Graceland for footwear. "Gene Simmons from KISS came in a lot," Slatten says, "but I think he just liked our girls."

The store closed in 1992, a victim of more conservative times. Slatten, 79, free-lances occasionally but mainly indulges hobbies such as detailing his sports car. His take on the current platform renaissance? Today's platform, says Slatten, is "kind of gross looking. Our shoes flattered the foot."