Steve Madden was snowed in. Last week, the designer behind his eponymous shoe line was stranded his New York City home, working up the courage to venture out for coffee with his wife, Wendy. Despite the cold, Madden is thinking spring. The mogul, whose stores are a mall staple, daydreams about warm-weather platform shoes like the ones he wore as a teenager just starting his career.

Madden’s career has had as many highs and lows as the shoes he designs. Madden began his company out of a Queens, N.Y., factory with $1,100 in his bank account.

From there, the brand expanded to include clothing, handbags and 92 retail stores worldwide. In the early ’00s, Madden spent two years in a North Florida prison on stock fraud charges, but his reputation has rebounded. On Saturday, he’ll be at International Plaza for a fan meet-and-greet. Last week, Madden called the Times for a chat. Read the full interview at blogs.tampabay.com/deals. I understand you’re snowed in.

Yeah, it’s cool. I like it — even though it costs me a fortune because we have to close our business, and the stores are shut. We have so many stores in the metropolitan area. But snow is very sexy, isn’t it?

It is! This calls for a new snow boot. Are you inspired? Do you start sketching on days like this?

Actually, yeah. I actually am inspired by what I’m wearing. I put on some old engineer boots — they’re pretty cool — today.

Thinking ahead to warmer weather, what are the shoes every woman must have in her spring wardrobe?

I would have said flat sandals if you had asked me a month ago. But now I’m kind of thinking that I really like big, big platforms, a la 1974.

That’s easy for you to say, because you don’t have to wear them.

Absolutely right! I don’t. I actually did wear them once upon a time.

Wow, like the ones with the goldfish at the bottom?

Yeah. Actually, when I started in the business I was a stock boy in a shoe store when I was 16 years old. I’m 52 years old. So when I started, believe it or not, platforms was a bigger trend for men than it was for women. So all the guys wore platforms.

Why are there fewer options in men’s footwear, and why are they less exciting?

The men’s shoe business used to be a lot more interesting. It’s not. Men are more conservative. Maybe the clothing’s more interesting now, so they focus on that. I don’t know.

Maybe that will come in time.

Yeah. I’d love for it to come. I’d love to do crazy men’s shoes.

What would you do?

I’d love to do platform shoes for men. But not feminine ones! They would look cool with jeans and stuff. There’s a perfect shoe — if you ever watched the movie Saturday Night Fever, there’s one shot of a guy walking away from John Travolta. He meets with John Travolta, and I think he tells him that his girlfriend is pregnant. You see him walking down the block. Those are the perfect platform shoes for men.