Being a fashion designer is never easy, as evidenced in a musical part of this episode...
Suited For Success is the fourteenth episode of the first season and first aired on February 4 2011.
Writer: Charlotte Fullerton
Summary
Rarity was busy preparing an dress for herself for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala with her cat, Opal Essence, involuntarily "helping" her. As she was making the finishing touches on it, she was then interrupted by Twilight and Applejack, who the former came to ask her to fix a button on her gala dress. Rarity instead insisted on making her an entirely new set, as well as one for AJ. Although the farm pony preferred to wear her work clothes, she was reminded that the party was a formal event, prompting her to have them appropriately "spruced up". After seeing Rainbow Dash crash into her workshop, the elegant unicorn had an idea. Offering to them them all a new party dress, including ones for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, she decided to set up a fashion show in Ponyville. While AJ and Twilight were unsure of her making such a promise, Rarity assured them all that she can handle it.
Sometime later, she invited all of them to show them the new set. Each of them were made to match their own personality. They were surprised at the quality of these amazing new dresses, but they were hesitant to find the right words for their criticism. Twilight overall stated that the ensembles are "not exactly what they had in mind". Although she was a bit disappointed in hearing this, the courtly unicorn kept a straight face and promised them that she was willing to make them all "110%" satisfied, planning to make a new, new set, as opposed to the ones she declared as a "first draft". When they wanted to make sure they weren't going to cause any problems, Rarity once more insisted that she wanted to make them all perfect.
A wise pony once said "Honest Criticism is hard to take". It can be harder to give for Fluttershy...
Time passed, and she decided to invite each one, individually. Fluttershy said she liked the new gown, but Rarity pushed her into saying what she really thought, if she liked it or loved it. To her surprise, Fluttershy gave her some very specific details about the dress she was wearing, but reminded the unicorn that "whatever she wanted was fine". The others were also told to give some details on what they would want for their clothes. Rarity seemed like she was following their instructions to the letter, but she was becoming stressed as the time of the show was drawing near (balanced, beautiful, affordable, etc,). However, when she finally finished, she believed that the new new dresses were downright ugly. And she still needed to finish hers...
Thankfully, her friends were more positive on the "perfect" dress set. As Rarity was relieved that her job was done, Spike arrived to bring her some exciting news: a major representative of the fashion world from Canterlot, named Hoity Toity, has heard about her fashion show (Spike confessed that he may had mentioned it to him), and was coming to check it out. A positive feedback from a hot shot pony critic would mean big business for Rarity's shop. Unfortunately, she was completely scared that such a guest was going to see her latest work.
The Perfect Dress! At least in their own minds...
It was the night of the show, and Hoity has arrived to watch. Rarity was already on pins and needles, but believed that if her friends liked it, so would he. This was not to be, however. The crowed was shocked to see that the styles of the "perfect" dresses were of the flashiest sort. Rarity's friends noticed the audience staring in confusion and it was clear, after looking at themselves, that they might had been overboard on the specifics. Hoity proceeded to make the harshest form of criticism possible, going as far as to describe them as "a mishmash of everything but the kitchen sink" (the sink Rarity decided not to include before the event). Long story short: Rarity's fashion show was a disaster, and somehow, she feared that would happen.
She locked herself in the the bedroom of her shop for the next few days, racked with shame from the fashion rep's review and Ponyville's citizens laughing at her. Unable to get her out of the room, they noticed her unfinished dress at her workshop.
Sometimes the perfect clothes are not always the flashiest...
While Rarity had thought of leaving Ponyville in self-exile, she saw her cat was stuck in a tree. She rushed outside only to discover that Dash placed the cat up there to draw the depressed unicorn from hiding and show her what they were really up to. Thanks to Fluttershy's knowledge of sewing, she and the other ponies finished Rarity's dress as a way of apologizing to her for asking too much. They even managed to bring Hoity Toity back to give their friend another chance. During a private fashion show, Rarity used her "first draft" ensembles for her friends. The pompous earth pony was more than impressed with this particular set and offered to feature her work for his Canterlot beautique... and asked to make a dozen of each one in a week.
Rarity learned that she can't always please all of her friends, and Twilight learned to appreciate a friend's gift and not be overly critical about it.
Trivia
- Because this episode mentions the Grand Galloping Gala, the event most likely has not yet taken place after the episode "The Ticket Master".
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