Here we meet Erica Mollica, who wants to be a "wow" and not just an "enh" for her engagement party to Terrence Garraway. Tim and Gretta notice very quickly that she likes to wear capris, which Erica explains is because of her height. Regular pants just don't fit her properly. Tim also notes that Erica exposes way too much of her midriff, and that her outfit screams, "I am 14 years old." He doesn't know it yet, but there's a definite reason for this.
Tim asks her to dress head to toe in the outfit she wants to wear for her engagement party. She comes out in some very low-cut pants, a teeny-tiny short, and a loose mandarin-collared jacket with no lines and a very strange pattern. She reveals her "surprise:" the pants have square cut-outs with diamonique circles. Tim pronounces it to be "disarmingly vulgar."
Erica's posture is very slouchy, which Gretta says sends both an external and internal message of low self-esteem. Tim asks Erica when she achieved her first great height. Erica says that she shot up to 5'10" as a freshman in high school (hence, the 14-year-old outfits). She obviously still has not shed the baggage associated with being that gawky, awkward teenager.
As they go through Erica's closet, they note that much of it is too small: shirts too short, pants cut off as capris. They do find a wrap dress that Gretta wants to make over and a red dress that they think will look stunning on Erica -- and it does! But she's still slouching. They take all the rest of her clothes away in an attempt at a "fashion detox."
Now it's time to fit the foundation. Erica has never been fitted for a bra before, and doesn't really feel the need because her boobs are small. She finds out that she is actually a cup size smaller, which is really disappointing to her, "like being a guy and finding out that your penis is smaller than you thought it was." She hated the idea at first, but after they get some bras that fit, she begins to like it better and better. The new bras accentuate her breasts and her figure instead of merely covering them up. She now has angles!
Tim's goal for Erica is that he wants her to embrace and flaunt her height. So at his loft, they input her measurements into the computer, and wham! Here's Erica. She's not impressed; she is actually embarrassed. Tim tells her that he wants to address her posture. He turns the image to the side so she can see her hunched-over shoulders, and informs her that even if they get the clothes right, they still may not look good because of the way she holds herself in.
So then he shows her with her old clothes on so that Erica can see what everybody else does. She is horrified by the image ("Hooray!" from Tim). He then shows her some good things that she can wear, and some other things that she needs to look for. He presents her with a pair of 5-inch stilettos and commands her to walk in them. To no one's surprise, she just kind of ambles around in them and feels very awkward. To help her get over that, Tim has invited a very special person to help her get over that: supermodel Tyson Beckford. Erica melts into a little puddle on the floor, but picks herself up as Tim leaves them alone fo her to practice her walk. She's still no model on the runway, but she is at least starting to hold her head up high.
Erica's visit to In-Style is pretty much an overwhelming experience for her. She tells Katrina Szish that her goal is to accentuate her height in a positive way. Katrina tells her that they have been informed that she is going to Bali for her honeymoon, so they have put together a fun beach bag for her. They are giving her a halter-top swimsuit, which she can adjust to feel comfortable in, two bikinis, a towel, some reading material, and a beach bag. After all of that, Erica is touched and comments that this has been a really good day. But the work and the subsequent epiphany is still to come.
The next day is shopping for all of the essential items. At first, the shopping goes very, very badly. Erica confides that she has never spent this long shopping. She gets easily frustrated by the lack of clothes that fits and she would have already thrown up her hands and gone home. Tim comes to join them and suggests that they start trying things on. Gretta thinks that Erica is already anticipating disappointment and that is why she is so wound up. The trying on of clothes starts out as a beastly task, but it seems to be exactly what Erica needs. She notices immediately what looks bad on her.
Then she finds Them: the jeans that look good and feel good. She says that the capris have finally left the building, and suddenly, everything else that she tries on looks really amazing. She's even wearing the stilettos now.
Now that she has gotten a taste of everyday fashion, it is time to meet the fashion design star, Ygal Azrouel. Erica has never been in such a high-end store before, and she feels that now she has attained that "ultraglamourous moment." She tries on dress after dress in which she looks good and exudes confidence, so much so that Ygal is impressed with it. He wants to give her one of his dresses as a gift and she tears up because all she wanted was to try them on. Tim tells her that the best way to choose is to pick the dress that she cannot live without.
At the John Frieda Salon, it is time for hair and makeup. Harry Josh wants to add color to her hair, both to hide a few gray strands and to add texture to her hair that color provides. After the makeup stylist is done giving her some amazing eyes and makeup tips, Harry blow drys her hair with a diffuser, then applies a large curling iron for large waves.
Back at Tim's loft, Tim and Gretta ooh and aah over her new look (and she really does look good), then give her two presents. The first is her wrap dress with shorter sleeves, and the second is a pair of sweaters she had that have been made over into sweaters for stuffed animals, one dog named Gretta and one named Tim. It's time for the fashion show.
Erica is completely surprised when she opens those doors and sees everyone near and dear to her sitting out there, including her fiance' who cannot take his eyes off of her. As she goes through her outfits, he gets progressively more excited and definitely wowed by her look. Tim and Gretta ask her mother why she feels that it took Erica so long to build up to this moment. Her mother says that Erica was always a person to think about other people, and she is finally thinking about herself. Aw, cher.
She has one final outfit, the dress she will be wearing for the engagement party. As she is getting dressed, Tyson Beckford and Ygal Azrouel join the crowd. By this time, Terrence says that his heart is popping. Amid the smashing success of her wardrobe, Tim and Gretta have a gift for her, a pair of flowery earrings studded with diamonds by Laura M to symbolize the transformation she has undergone. But that's not it; they have also flown in her maid of honor, her sister. Erica bursts into spontaneous tears, since she was just thinking that the one person that she wanted most to see her transformation wasn't there, and now she is. So there is bubbly and tears all around.
Once again, Fairy Godfather Tim Gunn and Greta Monaghan change the world one person at a time -- through fashion.
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