# Suited for Success > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Suited_for_Success > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Suited_for_Success.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suited_for_Success > Source revision: 1333015335 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 14th episode of the 1st season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic "Suited for Success" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode Rarity (center) is overwhelmed by the demands of her friends during "The Art of the Dress". Episode no. Season 1 Episode 14 Directed by Jayson Thiessen James Wootton Written by Charlotte Fullerton Original air date February 4, 2011 (2011-02-04) Running time 22 minutes Episode chronology ← Previous "Fall Weather Friends" Next → "Feeling Pinkie Keen" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 1 List of episodes "**Suited for Success**" is the fourteenth episode of the [first season](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_season_1) of the [animated television series](/source/Animated_series) *[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)*. It originally aired on [The Hub](/source/Discovery_Family#As_Hub_Network_(2010–2014)) on February 4, 2011. The episode was written by [Charlotte Fullerton](/source/Charlotte_Fullerton). In this episode, [Rarity](/source/Rarity_(My_Little_Pony)) attempts to design dresses for her friends to wear to the Grand Galloping Gala, but learns the importance of staying true to her artistic vision when their input compromises her designs. ## Plot External videos Suited for Success (full episode) — Official upload of the episode onto YouTube My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Equestria Toyline Cutie mark Elements of Harmony Pony Spin-offs My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013–2020)(List of animations) My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020–2021)(List of episodes) Characters Mane Six Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkie Pie Applejack Fluttershy Rarity Supporting Spike Princess Celestia Princess Luna Princess Cadance Shining Armor Discord Starlight Glimmer Trixie Zecora Antagonists Queen Chrysalis Lord Tirek Cozy Glow Minor Derpy Hooves Background Six Cheese Sandwich Quibble Pants The Wonderbolts Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty Equestria Girls Sunset Shimmer Seasons & episodes Season 1 (2010–2011) "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" Season 2 (2011–2012) "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding" Season 3 (2012–2013) "The Crystal Empire" "Too Many Pinkie Pies" "One Bad Apple" "Magic Duel" "Sleepless in Ponyville" "Wonderbolts Academy" "Apple Family Reunion" "Spike at Your Service" "Keep Calm and Flutter On" "Just for Sidekicks" "Games Ponies Play" "Magical Mystery Cure" Season 4 (2013–2014) "Princess Twilight Sparkle" "Castle Mane-ia" "Daring Don't" "Flight to the Finish" "Power Ponies" "Bats!" "Rarity Takes Manehattan" "Pinkie Apple Pie" "Rainbow Falls" "Three's a Crowd" "Pinkie Pride" "Simple Ways" "Filli Vanilli" "Twilight Time" "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" "Somepony to Watch Over Me" "Maud Pie" "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" "Leap of Faith" "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" "Trade Ya!" "Inspiration Manifestation" "Equestria Games" "Twilight's Kingdom" Season 5 (2015) "The Cutie Map" "Castle Sweet Castle" "Tanks for the Memories" "Slice of Life" "Amending Fences" "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" "Made in Manehattan" "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" "The Hooffields and McColts" "The Cutie Re-Mark" Season 6 (2016) "A Hearth's Warming Tail" "The Times They Are a Changeling" Season 7 (2017) "The Perfect Pear" Season 8 (2018) "Grannies Gone Wild" Season 9 (2019) "The Last Crusade" Series finale Media Films & specials My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever (2018) My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip (2019) Music Theme song "This Day Aria" Movie Soundtrack "Rainbow" "Off to See the World" Games My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day Gameloft video game Collectible card game Other media Home video releases IDW comics Issues My Little Pony/Transformers Brony fandom Fan works (list) 15.ai Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal A Brony Tale Bronies (documentary) Derpibooru Equestria Daily Fimfiction Fallout: Equestria Friendship Is Witchcraft Legends of Equestria Love & Ponystep Ponysona PONY.MOV Them's Fightin' Herds Fandom people 15 hotdiggedydemon Jenny Nicholson Odyssey Eurobeat Sethisto The Living Tombstone Vylet Pony Fan culture Analysis Brony music Bronyspeak Charity Criticism Fan art Clop Ponysona Fan fiction Military bronies /mlp/ Online communities My Little Pony conventions BABSCon BronyCAN BronyCon Czequestria Everfree Northwest GalaCon Ponyville Ciderfest RuBronyCon TrotCon UK PonyCon Vanhoover Pony Expo v t e When [Twilight Sparkle](/source/Twilight_Sparkle) brings an old, tattered dress to [Rarity](/source/Rarity_(My_Little_Pony))'s boutique for repairs in preparation for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala, Rarity is horrified by the garment's condition. Refusing to simply mend the dress, she enthusiastically volunteers to create brand new, elegant gowns for Twilight and all of her friends, viewing it as an opportunity to showcase her design talents for Canterlot's [high society](/source/High_society). Rarity throws herself into her work with passion, designing five unique dresses that reflect each friend's personality and style. She creates an astronomical-themed gown for Twilight Sparkle, a nature-inspired dress for [Fluttershy](/source/Fluttershy), a simple yet elegant design for [Applejack](/source/Applejack_(My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)), a flowing creation for [Rainbow Dash](/source/Rainbow_Dash), and a cheerful, party-themed dress for [Pinkie Pie](/source/Pinkie_Pie). When Rarity presents the completed dresses to her friends, they are polite but dissatisfied with the results. Each friend requests specific changes: Twilight wants the dress to be more historically and astronomically accurate, Rainbow Dash finds her dress too "frilly" and wants it to be ["20% cooler](#In_popular_culture)", Fluttershy considers her dress too flashy and requests a more subdued design, Applejack finds hers too fancy for her tastes, and Pinkie Pie wants more decorative elements. Despite her artistic reservations, Rarity agrees to accommodate all their requests. As Rarity works to incorporate each friend's feedback, their demands become increasingly excessive and contradictory. Rarity becomes increasingly stressed as she struggles to fulfill these conflicting visions. Unknown to Rarity, [Spike](/source/Spike_(My_Little_Pony)) has contacted Hoity Toity, Canterlot's most prestigious fashion critic, and arranged for him to attend a special fashion show to evaluate Rarity's work. When Spike reveals this surprise, Rarity is both thrilled and terrified at the opportunity. The fashion show proceeds with the redesigned dresses, which have become gaudy, over-the-top creations that bear no resemblance to Rarity's original vision. Hoity Toity and the audience are visibly disgusted and appalled by the excessive, clashing designs. Rarity is devastated and convinced that her career as a fashion designer is ruined. Realizing that their demands have sabotaged Rarity's work and hurt their friend, the [Mane Six](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_characters#Mane_Six) feel deeply guilty and secretly work together to complete Rarity's own dress for the Gala using her original design aesthetic. They then approach Hoity Toity and convince him to give Rarity a second chance by attending another fashion show. At the second show, the friends model Rarity's original designs, which impress Hoity Toity, who offers to feature her work in his boutique. Rarity's reputation is restored, and both she and her friends learn valuable lessons about respecting artistic vision and the importance of trust in friendship. ## Reception Although it would be easy to define Rarity as superficial because she gets wrapped up in making things look beautiful, she also demonstrates a generosity of spirit that can overshadow her desire to remake the world. In the Season 1 episode "Suited for Success," Rarity designs beautiful outfits for her pony friends to wear at the Grand Galloping Gala, only to hear each friend decide to make "suggestions" to improve her designs. As any good designer knows, design by committee can be... disastrous. Fortunately, with the help of Spike and her pony friends, Rarity gets another chance to impress Hoity Toity, the fashion maven from Canterlot, with a private showing of her original gown designs. Hoity Toity exclaims that they are "simply magnificent" and "absolutely amazing"—truly a shining moment for Rarity. — Mary Jane Begin, *My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria* Panels from the [storyboard](/source/Storyboard) of "Suited for Success" In a critical analysis of the episode, author Jen A. Blue described "Suited for Success" as the series' first "truly flawless" episode, and that it successfully balanced different approaches the show had been exploring throughout the first season. Blue praised the episode for giving every member of the [Mane Six](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_characters#Mane_Six) a meaningful role while keeping all characters thoroughly in character, and highlighted its character-based humor, real stakes for [Rarity](/source/Rarity_(My_Little_Pony)) in terms of business success and professional pride, and the way it avoided making any character a villain. She identified a [Stephen Sondheim](/source/Stephen_Sondheim) reference in Rarity's song (*[Putting It Together](/source/Putting_It_Together)* from the musical *[Sunday in the Park with George](/source/Sunday_in_the_Park_with_George)*) and noted the episode's generation of enduring memes, particularly "twenty percent cooler." Blue wrote that this episode marked a turning point where the series began actively seeking to transform its viewers; the main characters' demands on Rarity is an allegory for different types of fan behaviors and complaints commonly found in Internet fan communities. She concluded that the episode showed how fans can learn to embrace a creator's artistic vision instead of insisting on imposing their own preferences.[1] Sherilyn Connelly, the author of *Ponyville Confidential*, gave the episode an "A+" rating, and wrote that it is one of the best episodes of *Friendship Is Magic*.[2] Kieran Hair, writing in *[WhatCulture](/source/WhatCulture)*, remarked that the episode taught a problematic lesson about prioritizing appeasing friends over legitimate customer expectations. Hair criticized the episode's framing of the friends' complaints as ingratitude toward Rarity's generosity, as they were actually paying clients who had legitimate rights to request alterations to products they purchased. He contended that the episode incorrectly characterized a business transaction as an act of generosity, noting that Rarity was performing paid work rather than giving gifts, and that the moral lesson ignored the friends' consumer rights in favor of portraying their design requests as unreasonable demands.[3] ## In popular culture The episode generated one of the series' most enduring [Internet memes](/source/Internet_meme) with the phrase "**20% cooler**", spoken by [Rainbow Dash](/source/Rainbow_Dash) when critiquing one of Rarity's dress designs during the song "The Art of the Dress".[4] This phrase became one of the show's most recognizable and frequently referenced lines among fans.[1][5] The phrase was featured on one of the first *Friendship Is Magic* merchandise items sold at [Hot Topic](/source/Hot_Topic) in August 2011, a silhouette shirt of [Rainbow Dash](/source/Rainbow_Dash) with the text "This Shirt Just Got 20 Percent Cooler." At the July 2011 ConnectiCon convention, media analyst Scott Spaziani devoted significant time to examining "The Art of the Dress" during a panel about the series' fandom. The episode also marked the first appearance of a background character who would become popular among fans as a [disc jockey](/source/Disc_jockey) at Rarity's fashion show; following the broadcast, a poll on the fan website [Equestria Daily](/source/Equestria_Daily) established the character's names as "DJ [PON-3](/source/Leetspeak)" and "Vinyl Scratch". As Connelly noted, despite the episode's fashion-focused content, the episode had a significant cultural impact on the [brony fandom](/source/Brony_fandom).[5] Mary Carreon of *[OC Weekly](/source/OC_Weekly)* wrote that "[Vinyl Scratch] looks suspiciously like [Skrillex](/source/Skrillex)."[6] ## Home media The episode is part of the Season 1 DVD set, released by [Shout Factory](/source/Shout!_Factory) on December 4, 2012.[7] ## See also - [List of *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic* episodes](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_episodes) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Blue-S1_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Blue-S1_1-1) Blue, Jen A. (2013-08-31). "Everything is going to be just fine (Winter Wrap-Up, Call of the Cutie, Fall Weather Friends, Suited for Success)". *My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season One*. pp. 127–150. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 77 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Hair, Kieran (2019-03-23). ["13 Horrible Life Lessons My Little Pony Tries To Teach Our Kids"](https://whatculture.com/tv/13-horrible-life-lessons-my-little-pony-tries-to-teach-our-kids?page=2). *[WhatCulture](/source/WhatCulture)*. Retrieved 2025-05-30. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Cresswell, Jen (2015). "The classical world is 20 per cent cooler: Greco-Roman pegasi in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". *Journal of Popular Television*. **3** (1). Intellect Ltd: 135–143. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1386/jptv.3.1.135_1](https://doi.org/10.1386%2Fjptv.3.1.135_1). 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Connelly-156_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Connelly-156_5-1) [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 156 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Carreon, Mary (2011-11-21). ["Our Top 5 Favorite Cartoon DJs, Including Skrillex In My Little Pony Form"](https://www.ocweekly.com/our-top-5-favorite-cartoon-djs-including-skrillex-in-my-little-pony-form-6569944/). *OC Weekly*. Retrieved 2025-05-30. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season 1"](https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/B0096W47NO). [Amazon.com](/source/Amazon.com). 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-04. ### Bibliography - Connelly, Sherilyn (2017-04-01). [*Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016*](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ponyville_Confidential/E3VPDgAAQBAJ). McFarland. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4766-6209-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4766-6209-1). ## External links - ["Suited for Success"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1836489/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Season 1 "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Suited for Success](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suited_for_Success) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suited_for_Success?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.