My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1 E14 Suited for Success



"Rainbow Dash: What?

Rarity: Aren't you going to tell me to change something, too?

Rainbow Dash: No, I just want my dress to be cool.

Rarity: Do you not like the color?

Rainbow Dash: The color's fine; just make it look cooler.

Rarity: Do you not like the shape?

Rainbow Dash: The shape's fine, just make the whole thing, you know, cooler. (pause) It needs to be about 20% cooler.

Rarity: *Head Desk*"

"Written by Charlotte Fullerton"

Rarity's hard at work on a personal project: a dress for the Grand Galloping Gala. When Twilight shows up to have a loose button sewn back onto an old dress of hers, Rarity gets the inspiration to design a set of customized dresses for the entire mane cast. She also decides to throw a little local fashion show to drum up business for the shop.

Her friends are initially grateful and excited...too excited, as it turns out, for when they see the dresses Rarity's made for them, they're not quite satisfied with them. Rarity graciously puts her original work aside in favor of the dresses her friends really want, even though their tacky, overly-critical, or vague suggestions result in ridiculous creations that strain her artistic sensibilities. To make matters worse, Spike informs Rarity that the famous fashion critic Hoity Toity will be coming in from Canterlot to attend the fashion show.

Needless to say, the show is a disaster, and Hoity Toity's scathing criticism of the redone dresses leaves Rarity utterly humiliated, driving her to lock herself in her room for days to wallow in "whatever it is ponies are supposed to wallow in." Feeling guilty, Rarity's friends manage to cook up a scheme to cheer her up: first, they put Fluttershy's knowledge of sewing to use putting the finishing touches on Rarity's Gala dress, then trick her out of her room long enough to show it to her.

"Fluttershy: Uh-oh, she doesn't like it...

Rarity: No, I don't like it...I love it!!"

The second, and more important, part is convincing Hoity Toity to take in a private showing of Rarity's original dresses...and proceeding to knock his horseshoes off with a spectacular fashion show. Hoity Toity is impressed enough that he offers to showcase Rarity's designs at his Best of the Best Boutique in Canterlot...then proceeds to place a rush order for six dozen dresses.

In the end, Rarity has learned that you can't please everypony, and her friends have learned not to look a gift horse (or a horse's gift) in the mouth.

Tropes (YMMV items can be found here).
"Twilight Sparkle: She only has one cat.
 * AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: "Rainbow Dash" and "intimate details".
 * Also Sprach Zarathustra: The opening of the song is used in Twilight Sparkle's introduction in the fashion show, complementing her starry-night dress.
 * Busby Berkeley Number: Rarity's song has elements of this.
 * Call Back: Applejack shows her lack of mathematical skill again when she has to count up all the ponies to figure out that six dresses will be needed.
 * Cat Up a Tree: The only thing the ponies could think of to get Rarity out of her house was to put Opalescence in a tree.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Rarity forcing Fluttershy to tell her honest feelings about her dress sets up Fluttershy to have a surprising well of technical sewing knowledge that comes in handy later.
 * Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For: The other ponies learn a lesson about doing this.
 * Crazy Cat Mare: Pinkie Pie is afraid Rarity will become one during her Heroic BSOD.

Pinkie Pie: Give her time..."

"Twilight Sparkle: They sure are...um...something.
 * Damned By Faint Praise: Rarity's friends' reaction to the original designs is tepid.

Pinkie Pie: I love something! Something is my favorite.

Fluttershy: It's... nice."

"Rainbow Dash: Do you think we overdid it?
 * Rarity does the same regarding the redesigns, which she's privately declared the ugliest things she's ever made; she has to resort to claiming that she's happy that her friends are happy with them.
 * Dark Reprise: The second version of "Art of The Dress" serves as a 'Stressed Reprise' for lack of a better term. Even the lines that are repeated are sung in such a stressed and strained tone of voice as to change the meaning entirely.
 * Didn't Think This Through: After going under the spotlight, the ponies start to realise some of their design ideas aren't quite as elegent as they thought.

Applejack: Nah...


 * Applejack makes a quick glance at her dress, consisting of mega-sized boots and ten gallon hat*

Applejack: Okay, maybe a little."

"Rarity: Leave me alone! I vant to be alone! I want to wallow in...whatever it is that ponies are supposed to wallow in! Do ponies wallow in pity? Oh listen to me; I don't even know what I'm supposed to wallow in. I'M SO PATHETIIIIIIIC!!!"
 * Distracting Disambiguation:

"Fluttershy: All right, since you really want to know, [deep breath] the armscye's tight, the middy collar doesn't go with the shawl lapel, the hems are clearly machine stitched, the pleats are uneven, the fabric looks like toile, you used a backstitch here when it clearly called for a topstitch or maybe a traditional blanket stitch, and the overall design is reminiscent of prêt-à-porter and not true French haute couture.
 * Later, when contemplating exile, she is stymied over what to pack.
 * Eat the Camera: Rarity does this during "Art of the Dress."
 * Empathy Pet: Opal purrs and curvettes around the first dresses, but hisses and growls at the redesigns.
 * Fashion Show:
 * FiM is noteworthy for making an episode about a fashion show into a parody of the fashion industry (also seen in "Green Isn't Your Color"), instead of having it look like a bunch of children playing dress-up.
 * The first fashion show in this episode is a blatant parody. The amateurish dresses essentially designed by Rarity's friends may be ridiculous, but they look familiar enough in context of the stereotypical image of a fashion show.
 * In the second show, Rarity gets to show her real designs to Hoity Toity at her boutique. Some effort is put into making it quite watchable without the earlier irony, with Rarity providing magical special effects to introduce each pony and her outfit.
 * Hair Decorations: Each one of the dresses includes some sort of Nice Hat, hair clip, or crown. The reject dresses have their own hair decs, but they're not so cute.
 * Heroic BSOD: The failure of the fashion show causes Rarity to lock herself in her room for days and consider running away in exile.
 * Hidden Depths: Fluttershy turns out to have a "freaky knowledge of sewing", as demonstrated when Rarity browbeats her into giving a critique of the dress Rarity designed:

Rarity: [gasp]

Fluttershy: But...uh...you know...um...whatever you want to do is fine...

Rarity: [Stunned silence]"

"Hoity Toity: Oh, those amateurish designs look like a piled-on mish mash of everything but the kitchen sink!
 * Impossibly Tacky Clothes
 * Ironic Echo: Hoity Toity demanding to know "who is responsible" has an entirely different tone after the second fashion show than the first.
 * "Dress-making's easy" in Rarity's song: Lightly and with enthusiasm the first time; exasperated and ironic the second.
 * The Jimmy Hart Version
 * Rarity's song "Art of the Dress" is closely based on the Barbra Streisand version of "Putting it Together" from the musical Sunday in The Park With George.
 * The music during the second fashion show is a rapid-fire medley of sound-alike musical motifs; "Also Sprach Zarathustra" for Twilight's dress; Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" for Applejack's; "I Want Candy" for Pinkie Pie's; the Westminster Chimes for Rainbow Dash's; Claude Debussy's "L'Apres-Midi d'une Faune" for Fluttershy's.
 * Kitchen Sink Included

Rarity: [quickly pushes a kitchen sink offstage]"

"Twilight: Oh dear..."
 * Large Ham: Rarity in full breakdown mode.
 * Madness Makeover: Rarity's mane becomes progressively messier the more stressed-out she gets.
 * Nice Hat: In addition to Applejack's signature hat, Pinkie Pie's original dress comes with one. All five redesigns have not-so-nice hats to match the dresses.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The groups' attempt to get the dresses made exactly how they want them nearly destroy Rarity's career.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Hoity Toity is an impression of Karl Lagerfeld, down to Lagerfelds signature fan as his cutie mark -- but with the voice of Tim Gunn and the snarkiness of Michael Kors.
 * Parental Bonus: Rarity goes through a lot of the woes of the customer service person.
 * Oh Crap: Rarity, first after hearing Hoity Toity is looking at her revised dresses, and later when he places order for six dozen of the originals.
 * The other ponies after realising what the hell they are wearing.

"Making sure it fits forelock and crest
 * One-Scene Wonder: The DJ pony that turns on the music during the first fashion show has less screen time than most characters in the entire series, yet its one of the most memorable moments from the episode and she went on to become a massive Ensemble Darkhorse.
 * Possibly a Two Scene Wonder. The other scene that people seem to remember from this episode is the "20% Cooler" line.
 * Plewds: Rarity emits these (flying sweat drops from the head) when noticing Opalescence stranded in a tree.
 * Real Women Never Wear Dresses: Averted. When Rarity suggests the fashion show, tomboy Rainbow Dash is just as excited about doing it as Twilight Sparkle and Applejack.
 * However, Applejack asks for something "not too frou-frou-y."
 * Shout-Out: Rarity's rant on how her life is ruined includes the lines "I used to be somepony," and "I vant to be alone!".
 * Shown Their Work:
 * The lyrics of "The Art of the Dress" refers to parts of the body that are critical in proper dress design. Or more specifically, proper anatomical parts of a pony body that would be important for a pony's dress.

Don't forget some magic in the dress.

Even though it rides high on the flank

Rainbow won't look like a tank!

...

Piece by piece, snip by snip

Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip."

"Applejack: So...all you have to do is make a different, stunning, original, amazing outfit for (counts) one-two-three-four-five plus yourself...SIX ponies, lickety split?
 * Fluttershy's "freaky knowledge" is not just random nonsense but are appropriate terms of art for the fashion industry.
 * Hoity Toity says „brava“ instead of „bravo“ when talking to Rarity. He, and by extension the writers, seem to know their Italian.
 * Stylistic Suck: The dresses used for the first fashion show.
 * Taking Advantage of Generosity: The episode's Aesop.
 * Tempting Fate

Rarity: (confident laugh) Ohohoho Applejack...you make it sound like as if it's going to be hard."

"Twilight Sparkle: Now what do we do?
 * To her credit, the first six dresses weren't hard for her. Aaaaand then she started work on the second set of dresses.
 * Although, she did only manage to make five of them. Fluttershy's freaky knowledge of sewing made the sixth one later.
 * 20% More Awesome: The Trope Namer (see above).
 * Twitchy Eye: Rarity gets this after learning Hoity Toity will be attending the fashion show... then gets it again when Hoity Toity makes a big, demanding order.
 * Unsatisfiable Customer: The other five morph into these over the new dresses.
 * Visual Pun: See Kitchen Sink Included.
 * Working Title: According to one of the animators, the episode was originally titled "Dress for Failure", which was deemed too pessimistic.
 * Your Answer to Everything:

Fluttershy: Uh...Panic?

Rainbow Dash: That's your answer for everything!"