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Here’s one from the depths of my sisters toy cupboard. Well, not exactly, as she didn’t have the real fashion wheel but an imitation version, but it was just as good – probably better since it was smaller in size so easier to play with.
The Fashion Wheel allowed junior Armanis to design their own fashion collection by rotating the wheel to select different items of clothing, then placing a piece of paper over the selected options and rubbing over it with a wax crayon held sideways, a bit like doing a brass rubbing, if anybody still does that these days.
The wheel was split into three sections that rotated independently, the top featuring a head with various hats or jewellery, the middle different shirts, jackets and blouses, and the bottom depicting skirts and trousers. These images were raised off the plastic of the wheel, so when you rubbed the crayon over them an image of the outfit you had designed was left on the paper. The designs could then be coloured in if you wished.
To a child it seemed like there were limitless possibilities to be had, which to be honest is probably true enough. There would have been several thousand unique combinations, so it’s unlikely anybody would have ever created every possible design. If you were into making paper dress up dolls then you would certainly have had the best dressed cardboard girl in town if you had a Fashion Wheel.
My sister’s version was pretty much the same, except instead of being arranged on a wheel there were several plastic plates with the different clothes on. These could be slotted into a recess in a plastic board and then rubbed over with the wax crayon in the same way.  I believe she also had a travel version of this toy, which was about the size of a paperback book and created more cartoonish looking images of a little girl doing various activities such as skipping and running.
February 28th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I always thought you liked my toys. As I know I always liked yours.
February 28th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Ahem. Yes. Thanks Sis.
It’s true though, we often played with each others toys as much as our own when we were growing up.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Hi, I’ve just discovered your blog and have been having a look through your older posts and found this one. I got hold of a Fashion Wheel the other day and have been having great fun with it – thought you might like a look at my fabulous designs
http://tinyurl.com/c7zder
I’m loving your blog although I kind of wish I hadn’t discovered it till after my exams as I’ve wasted several hours already today!
April 29th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Nice designs Aveen, I especially like the one with roller skates, and the one that looks like Emily Bishop from Little Britain.
Pleased you’re enjoying the blog, and best of luck with your exams!
December 20th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I had something similar, but the template pieces were square, and had a pattern on the reverse. If anyone remembers what this was called, i’d love to know, as my 4 year old daughter would love one!
October 5th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
[...] or an artist. When i was little though I dreamed of being a fashion designer. Do you remember ‘The Fashion Wheel’? I spent hours making my designs and I kept them all in a Ferrero Rocher box! I even had a name for [...]
August 16th, 2012 at 7:19 am
My daughter aged 5 got one of these for her birthday a few weeks ago, I was so shocked you can still get them. FANTASTIC!!!