00:00Steve Madden's recent viral interview with The Cutting Room Floor reminded us all that if you're
00:04going to spend your money to buy something you want to wear, consider spending it on the dupe.
00:09This is Steve Madden. So you may recognize his name more from the label of your shoe or perhaps
00:13for this iconic logo. But this is the real deal Steve Madden, creator of the shoe brand that you've
00:19probably seen at malls everywhere. His interview on The Cutting Room Floor podcast was unexpectedly
00:23delightful because Steve was able to reintroduce himself to a whole new audience. He came off as a
00:28surprisingly humble, regular, down-to-earth kind of guy. He's been around making shoes since the
00:3390s and 2000s and was extremely popular mostly because he was knocking off designer shoes and
00:38making them affordable to the girls. What people really enjoyed about this interview was that he
00:43was equally as honest and upfront about taking inspiration from a lot of different brands and
00:49being kind of okay with being known as the designer knockoff shoe guy while also just calling out the
00:53general snobbery of the shoe business which is not this guy's bag. He just wants you to have nice
00:58shoes. This interview really reminded us who the F Steve Madden actually is.
01:02What do you say to folks who say that Steve Madden is a knockoff brand?
01:05It's like calling the Beatles a knockoff brand because they would take a little bit from Motown and a little bit from Elvis.
01:11Tell me if you know who the originator is.
01:13All right.
01:14So this became a very big trend.
01:15Is this Aaliyah?
01:16Aaliyah.
01:17Aaliyah?
01:18Good job.
01:18It is, right? Do you think that some of my girls even know who Aaliyah is?
01:21To be fair, Steve's girls back in the 90s and 2000s didn't probably know who Aaliyah was and
01:26it didn't matter because Steve was making shoes that real girls could wear every day and look cool as hell.
01:31These chunky loafers were probably one of the most iconic Steve Madden shoes of the era.
01:36But this slinky black semi-platform slide was the cool girl shoe for decades as far as I'm concerned.
01:43Yeah, that was his shoe.
01:44But make no mistake, Steve definitely is the king of all knockoffs.
01:48Prada, Gucci, Hermes, Versace all have much more affordable dupes thanks to Steve.
01:54You know what else I like about Steve Madden shoes?
01:56The Audacity.
01:57Because you know that Balenciaga shoe, right?
01:59Well, Steve has his Steve Valenciaga version as well.
02:02Remember the Yeezy sneaker craze a few years ago?
02:05For us brokies, we had the Steve Madden version.
02:07The Steezy, if you will.
02:09This man's influence is undeniable in pop culture.
02:11If you were like me, a young kid in the early 2000s, you might have seen these ads in magazines.
02:16Some people were freaked out by these weird large heads, but these insane proportion beautiful girls in their stylish Steve Madden shoes.
02:23Do you know that they actually inspired Bratz dolls?
02:26This is true.
02:27They took Bratz to court and they settled.
02:29Something about, I don't know, you take inspiration from here, from there.
02:33There you have it.
02:33Next time your bank account is hurting, don't worry.
02:36Put on some Steve Madden shoes.
02:38Pop on some e.l.f. lip gloss and go spoil yourself at TJ Maxx because there's nothing wrong with the dupe.
02:43Long live the dupe.
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