SYTTD: S1, E5, Pt. 2 – What a Girl Wants

This is what karma is. I devoted half a blog post to shitting on Claudia and this episode decided to start giving her what seems like a redemption arc. At least a girl says yes to a dress in this episode!

The real villain of this episode is Ronnie, who at least seems to be aware that he’s kind of a shitty person. We get to very briefly hang out with Ronnie and his new assistant Liz, who is tasked with managing his entire life (including but not limited to a strict diet and a cabinet full of vitamins). Mara delicately says that Ronnie has had many assistants because “he can’t tolerate any flaws.” This is probably the last time we will see Liz!

Thank god this episode had brides in it, so I don’t have to talk about Ronnie anymore.

Stacey Kaaz loves Pnina Tornai and she’s looking for a flashy ballgown to make her look “like a princess.” Technically, her budget is $4,000, but she and her mom both tell us that Stacey gets whatever she wants. Flashy ballgowns cost money, so it’s good that she’s ready to drop some cash on this endeavor.

Keasha pulls a few dresses that Stacey likes but doesn’t love, but Stacey sees a Pnina dress on another bride and immediately falls in love with it. Unlike Claudia, Keasha is not willing to go pull the dress off of the other bride. Instead, she tactfully pulls the consultant to the side and asks to have the dress when the bride is done. The other consultant says she can have the dress when her bride is done with it.

Did you know you can spend an hour in a wedding dress? And the consultants will just… let you? Stacey and I both learned that today and neither of us were happy about it. Eventually the dress is relinquished, and Stacey can try it on.

She loves it, thank god. Pnina Tornai comes out from whatever cave she lives in at Kleinfeld’s to tell her how beautiful she looks. I am convinced that Pnina is held captive below the alterations department, and forced to bedazzle enormous corseted dresses all day. I have not seen any evidence disproving that theory.

Stacey says yes to the dress. As predicted by…. literally everyone, this dress was a cool $2,400 over her budget and no one ever mentions that again.

Under no circumstances do I have to hand it to Pnina Tornai, but this skirt is a lot better and more restrained than normal. Her usual tendency is to wrap yards of satin around a dress form and call it a day.

As per usual, we have a couple of alterations brides getting their fittings downstairs.

Hindy is here for her first fitting. She’s an Orthodox Jew and was paired with an Orthodox consultant for her appointment, who she loves. Not only did she not have to explain some of the constraints that her dress needed to follow, but her consultant really understood her style and her background. Hindy seems really sweet! She loves her dress so much that she starts dancing in it.

The only alteration her dress needs is to slightly raise the sleeves, revealing a saucy bit of elbow. Hindy walks around in the dress with her shoes – which are platform sneakers because she rules – and is generally thrilled to be here. This whole segment is great. It’s refreshing to see a bride who is looking for something different than the sexy princess ballgowns we normally see, and I love seeing her relationship with her consultant.

Meanwhile, Jade has flown in from Hong Kong for her final fitting. She chose to come to New York to shop for her dress because it had more variety, and wanted a dress that had “simplicity and uniqueness and excitement.” I would argue that those things contradict each other.

Her dress is very pretty though.

Finally, we have Claudia’s bride. Alexandra and her mom have traveled from Romania to buy her dress, and they have a very tight budget of $1,500. This is actually Alexandra’s second time at Kleinfeld’s – the first time, she fell in love with this dress, but she wanted to return with her mom.

We do get some of Claudia’s backstory here. She moved with her family from Romania in 1984, and connected with Alexandra over their shared cultural experiences, and the pressure of bringing a beautiful dress home with very tight finances. Unfortunately, the dress that Alexandra loves is $2,000.

Claudia really wants to make this work for Alexandra (and she needs the sale, as we’ve learned) so she goes to Mara to see what they can do. Mara stresses that they do not give discounts on dresses in a confessional. Regardless, she sees the look on Alexandra’s face and decides to try and help.

Good news for Alexandra though! The dress was going to be a part of a sample sale, and Mara can sell the sample to her at the discounted price. What are the odds? I suspect they wouldn’t have shown this segment if they couldn’t make it work.

I’m really curious about why Say Yes To The Dress included this segment with Claudia. All season, the show has seemed really confused about whether they want to portray her as a sympathetic protagonist or a villain. In my view, they’ve firmly given her a villain edit – repeatedly showing the meetings with Mara where she’s being reprimanded, letting all of the managers explain why she’s bad at her job, and airing her confessionals where she clearly comes off as deluded.

Still, they continue to focus on Claudia more than any other consultant on the show. Is she supposed to be an audience surrogate? If she’s a villain, then why include this bride – which completely re-frames Claudia as someone who is actually trying her best? Am I over-thinking this completely? Probably! There’s one more two-part episode in the season, and maybe I’ll find out then.

Final Score:

• Bride wants to “look like a princess” – +3 points
• Bride has a “bridal moment” – +5 points for Stacey, +5 points for Alexandra
• Designer cameo – +5 points
• Bride goes $1,000+ over her budget – +7 points

Total: 25/100

We’ve almost reached the end of season one. Bye beautiful!