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Sarah, do you remember being a preteen and like getting your mom to buy you an iconic piece of clothing?

Like you just, you couldn't wait to wear it the next day to school.

Yes, and I will explain this for Americans as briefly as possible.

Okay. There was a store called Northern Reflections that had a kid's section called Northern

Getaway. This store sold these t-shirts that said spice mice, and it was the spice

scrolls as mice, and I wanted a spice mice shirt so badly, even though it was dumb, and I remember

when I finally got one,

I was so happy. I hate that I know exactly what you're talking about. But for me, I think it was

this pair of brown suede boots with a kitten heel from Steve Madden. Like truly hideous stuff,

I begged my mom to get them for me unsuccessfully. Oh my God.

Steve Madden was for cool girls.

The ads with the big heads.

Oh.

Well, Sarah, I'm bringing this up because today I want you to re-inhabit the fashion tastes you had, let's say, 20 years ago.

Back when life was simple and a pair of patent leather Mary Jane's could change your life.

It's December 1993, and 35-year-old Steve Madden is at an investment firm in Long Island, New York.

The office is huge, the size of a football field, with low ceilings and rows of desks for hundreds of brokers.

All eyes are on Steve as he prepares to give a speech.

He's got on a baseball cap to cover his thinning, strawberry blonde hair,

which is pulled into a low ponytail.

And he's wearing a wrinkly navy blazer over a t-shirt with jeans and scuffed brown penny loafers.

...