These 2 Fashion Avenues have always been a bit of a puzzle to me. The fashions are very rare and I had at one point wondered if some entrepreneurial soul had placed non-Mattel fashions in FA boxes to sell. I only own one of them but it has actually been a closer inspection of the box while prepping for today's "lecture" that has me re-thinking that thought, and I've come to believe they were actually Mattel-made for the India market. The box is generally the same box used for all FA's in the first few years, 1995-1998, and it has an assortment number from those years as well. What is different is on the side of the box where all the regular FA's say "Made in China", this box does say "Made in India". So its production in India could explain some of the other differences that I'll note as we look at the pictures.1995 Fashion Avenue India Exclusive, assortment # 14292, stock # unknown- For all the regular FA's the unique stock number is printed on the liner while the assortment number (not unique but shared among a group of FA's that shipped together) is printed on the box. I could find no liner number at all on my India FA so the stock number is unknown. The fashion includes a fabulous gold-on-gold brocade opera coat plus a beautiful brocade gown, and yellow pumps.
The back of the box is the same as other boxes from that era, showing FA's available in the US:
I haven't removed this gown from the liner, but I have pulled it out of the box (and removed some scotch tape that was holding the gown at the bottom edge).
Here I've opened the opera coat to better show the gown underneath. You can see the coat has a metal snap which is unusual. Off the top of my head I can't think of any FA's that had metal snaps. Where snaps were required, those clear plastic snaps were generally used.
And a close-up of the bodice showing that it has straps made of the same brocade:
All the regular FA's from this era were stitched with thread onto their liners and this is the only instance I know of where those annoying little plastic "I"-shaped fasteners (poked through the fabric, argh!) were used and then taped over in back. Also, the regular FA's always had the shoes attached by thread or plastic bands to the front of the FA as part of the display. The India shoes are in a small package attached to the back.
Here is the side of the box showing the proof of India "parentage". There is no Indian language anywhere on the box but there is a small sticker at the right edge of the "Consumer Information" box that is either a price tag or possibly some factory code about the fashion:
1995 (presumed) Fashion Avenue India Exclusive, assortment # 14292 (presumed), stock # unknown- I call this FA "The One That Got Away" since it is the only FA from the original Fashion Avenue ID website that I never owned. I only know of a few FA collectors who managed to snag it. I'm assuming the box is like the one above that I do own. The Fashion Avenue ID site I used back then has been re-vamped and has removed the picture but years ago I printed out the whole FA website (!) to help in keeping track of my own collection. So here is the grainy pic I have taken from my FA book:
I believe it is quite similar to 1995's Barbie Deluxe Fashion Avenue stock #14303 (shown below) but with a different fabric for the jacket and skirt:
That's all I know about the India exclusives. If any others were made by the Mattel India factory for the India market they never made it into collector's hands for documentation of existence on the FA website.
Next week we'll look at some Japan fashions that are often considered Fashion Avenues.
