My initial conclusion - that if goldfish chunky heels existed, they were not mass-market items but were individual examples created by individual custom shoemakers, is correct. It seems there was an interview in 1981 that confirmed their origin.
It seems that the origin of the shoes was a custom pair worn by one man, fashion trendsetter and athlete, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Frenchy” Fuqua. Frenchy was known not just for his great athletic skill, but also for being a fashion trendsetter in the disco era. He was among the first, for example, to popularize Musketeer hat wearing.
Many of his outfits are extremely dated, but some of his outfits still look stylish today.
In a 1981 interview with the New York Times, Frenchy Fuqua identified the origin of his goldfish platforms in 1977:
Frenchy laughed. ”Then I get a call from a friend. ‘Frenchy,’ he says, ‘I got somethin’ real sweet for you.’ ” ‘What is it?’ ” ‘How would you like some shoes you can put goldfish in?’ ”I said, ‘Hey, I got an outfit for it.’ ”It was my count suit, with the musketeer hat and gold cane and lavender cape and my valet, which was Franco Harris, who carried the cape and never let it touch ground. And, oh yes, my wine-red knickers. That’s why I switched from goldfish to tropical fish. The tropical-fish colors went better with my outfits.
”The shoes were actually fiberglass clogs with three-inch heels. I had two fish in each shoe. They were a little slippery to walk in, being glass, so you’d have to hold on to a rail when you went down stairs. But my biggest problem was that the fish kept dying. I kept running and adding water, and that just got my socks wet. I experimented with a small pump that ran up my pants, but that was uncomfortable. Finally I gave up the fish but kept the shoes – and put in a terrarium.”
In other words, they were a single item made by a single shoe customizer for a deeply influential and famous person. The very issues he identifies are why they were never a mass-market commodity. Still, I haven’t been able to find any images of Frenchy Fuqua in the goldfish platforms, which is interesting, because, as I often tell people, their belief that “everything is on the internet” is deeply unwarranted arrogance, considering how much no longer exists.
Also, a few people in the comments like @fan-collector-geek mentioned they remember an appearance by a guy on a talk show with aquarium heels. They may be remembering Tony Randall’s appearance on Johnny Carson show in 1977, where supposedly, he wore aquarium heels. I’m inclined to believe this happened as so many people remember it (and the exact same details), but I didn’t discuss it in the post have yet to be able to find any images of it - nothing. It just goes to show that we’re not doing as thorough a job as we should be of recording and archiving pop culture. The 77 date matches the idea the origin of aquarium shoes was Frenchy Fuqua.
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