I spent the early half of my childhood living in rural Louisiana. My love of horses came from our neighbor who had several show horses. My mom used to work for them helping to care for the horses and cleaning stalls, so it was not unusual for us to spend time around the horses. Dolls and most girl marketed toys were not really my thing, but boy I loved horses and ponies. Like any child of the 80's I had my fair collection of My Little Ponies, but I also had two FashionStar Fillies, Lani and Chantilly and the StarLace Evening Gown. They were always the mom or beautiful older sister to my ponies. 

Having three brothers led to some interesting games we played with my fillies. I recall one time we were parachuting action figures off of our second story balcony by tying them to plastic grocery bags. My brother's figures were not really heavy enough to open up the bag and catch the air well so they told me to go get one of my ponies. Figuring bigger was better, I grabbed Chantilly, we tied her to the bag, launched her off the balcony and she plummeted to the ground like a rock. After running down to retrieve her, I was struck with the consequence of such actions, one of her hooves had been snapped clean off! I was sure we'd never find it, but after some searching from all of us we did locate the missing foot. It would be years before I would glue it back on her.

With my fillies and ponies I never went through a phase where they were stored or given away as I got older. At some point they just transitioned from toy box to display shelf. I would continue to receive new-to-me fillies for Christmas over the years to add to my collection. The gold star on the filly's cheeks made it easy for my mom to identify them over imposters when she went to thrift stores or garage sales. Even in adulthood, my mom would still show up with a random box of fillies she'd found.

The Filly Catwalk History

When I was 15 and discovered the internet, I found my way to other FashionStar Fillies collectors through the My Little Pony community. Unlike MLP, which had so much competition, ID sites, and just an enormous line of toys and products to collect, FashionStar Fillies was a manageable and achievable collection to complete. I turned my focus to the fillies and began to collect with fervor. With the youth of the internet, there was a ripe opportunity for me to create an identification site for FashionStar Fillies and so The Filly Catwalk was born in the year 2000. After it's relaunch in 2004 and the acquisition of my filly partner's collection, I got married and began adulting and the fillies took a back seat to kids and life. Now I find myself in a place where I've renewed my interest in my FashionStar Fillies collection and am excited to refresh The Catwalk once again.

• The Filly Catwalk (2000-2003)
• The Filly Catwalk (2004-2021)

Special Thanks

The Filly Catwalk would not be possible without LuAnn, who helped me all those years ago gather information, take pictures, and helped make my collection a big part of what it is today.