Candies

Fashion Synopsis

Shoes just didn’t get any sexier during the disco era—Candies took the cake. Candies' stiletto-heeled slide stepped into the big time when Olivia Newton-John strutted her bad girl stuff as Sandy Olsen in Grease. That sexy shoe, paired with skintight, black spandex pants and off-the-shoulder top, skyrocketed the disco slide to the stratosphere. Never before had a good girl gone bad so easily, and she had her Candies to thank for that.

Candies came from another shoe family: founder Neil Cole was of Cole Haan fame, but he split off to create the Candies line of fashion footwear. Candies unveiled the stiletto slide in 1978, and once it hit the discos, the competition left the floor.

The shoe was dubbed the ‘disco slide’ because of its popularity on the dance floor, and for the ease of sliding your foot into the shoe without the need for straps or laces. The shoe featured both a block heel and a super-spike of four inches. The sole was wood-like molded plastic, and a curved band of leather (in a zillion different colors) was the only thing that kept your foot in the shoe.

How millions of girls hustled to the bus stop without breaking their legs, we’ll never know. These shoes were even more dangerous than the weeble-wobble platform wedges, but nothing looked as good! Paired with shiny satin pants and a sequined tube top, this sexy shoe burned the house down. Disco inferno, baby!

When disco died, Candies lost favor with the dancing crowd, but the company continued to peddle out footwear (and apparel and cosmetics) for the next decade. Candies never topped the crowning days of disco, all but disappearing from the crowd as the 80’s wore on. In 1993, however, Candies came back for an encore, and by 1997, thanks to a controversial ad campaign starring Jenny McCarthy, Candies were once more as sweet as ever.