The 80s Toy That Sparked My Love of Fashion

As an 80s girl, there are certain things that instantly transport me right back to childhood — and Fashion Plates is absolutely one of them. 💖

I can still remember sitting on the floor for HOURS mixing and matching outfit combinations, lining up the embossed plates just right, rubbing over them with the black crayon, and waiting to reveal the design underneath like it was the greatest fashion creation ever made. 😂

And honestly? No matter which plates you paired together, you could never really go wrong. Every combination somehow worked. It made fashion feel fun instead of intimidating. Creative instead of perfect.

Fashion Plates takes me back to a whole era of life.

Lisa Frank Trapper Keepers.
Wearing three different colored slouch socks at the same time.
Rolling up my jeans just right.
Layering oversized sweatshirts.
Walking around the mall for hours with friends without buying anything.
Recording songs off the radio onto cassette tapes trying not to miss the beginning.
Calling your friends on the house phone and stretching the cord into another room. 😂

Everything felt colorful, expressive, playful, and creative — and Fashion Plates fit perfectly into that world.

At the time, I never would have imagined that years later I’d end up owning a fashion boutique of my own.

But honestly, looking back now, maybe the signs were there all along.

Fashion Plates wasn’t just a toy to me. It sparked creativity. It made me love color, styling, patterns, and the excitement of putting pieces together to create something uniquely your own. I loved that no two outfits had to look exactly the same.

And I think that’s part of what still inspires me with Apple Girl Boutique today.

Whether I’m curating collections, creating graphics, brainstorming marketing ideas, or putting together fun themed launches, I still approach fashion with that same feeling I had sitting on the floor as a kid surrounded by Fashion Plates.

Recently, I decided to create some retro-inspired “Apple Girl Fashion Plates” graphics just for fun — blending that nostalgic 80s toy vibe with real Apple Girl styles. And honestly, creating them made me ridiculously happy. It felt like this weirdly perfect full-circle moment between childhood creativity and the business I’ve built today.

The pastel packaging.
The mix-and-match fashion plates.
The retro toy details.
The nostalgia of it all.

It reminded me why I fell in love with fashion and creativity in the first place.

It’s funny how the little things we loved as kids quietly shape who we become later in life.

And honestly, it feels pretty fitting that the little girl spending hours designing outfits with Fashion Plates eventually grew up to build Apple Girl Boutique — a brand built around creativity, individuality, color, fun, and self-expression.

And if you were also an 80s girl obsessed with Fashion Plates… just know I’d absolutely still be sitting on the floor designing outfits right alongside you. ✨💕🍎

#lovemyapplegirl