Dress for Success is the eleventh episode of the third season and the 52nd episode on Ugly Betty overall.
Synopsis[]
Plot[]
The day begins with Betty helping Hilda, Justin and Ignacio decorating the Suarez home as they celebrate the relaunch of "Hilda's Beautilities." Betty agreed to help out Hilda with filling out gift baskets and other goodies, believing it would not interfere with her work and her studies at YETI.
At work Daniel and Wilhelmina addressed the "MODE" staff that they landed Keira Knightley for an April shoot and just ordered a Halston dress for her to wear on the cover. The two also warned that this info must not be leaked out to the competition. In addition Betty is tasked by Daniel to pick up the dress.
But it looks like Betty might have spoken too soon as she tried to juggle work and family without much success as she struggles to impress her idol, Jodie Papadakis (Bernadette Peters), the editor running YETI, this after Jodi asked Betty where she was when Betty was supposed to be at a gathering the evening before. And when Betty told her she was helping her sister, Jodi didn't like that answer. Jodi then gave the students their assignment, which was to gather 40 contacts through social networking (no family members), and warned them if they don't complete this, then don't bother returning to YETI.
So with help from Marc and Amanda, albeit reluctant, Betty does gets some good tips, even after Marc and Amanda abandon her at a local bar, where she succeeds, despite passing on helping Hilda again that same evening, leaving Hilda disappointed. Things go from bad to worse when she encounters Teri O'Shaughnessy (guest star Nikki Blonsky), an assistant at ELLE magazine, just as the long-running Mode/ELLE rivalry heats up. As Betty and Teri exchange cards, the two made small talk about each other and apparently became friends and each other's confidant about what they think of the uppity rules of networking, but when Betty went to the bathroom Teri eyes her Blackberry that was left on the table and managed to scoop enough info for ELLE.
Teri uses the information from Betty's phone to steal the dress for their party by using Betty's name. This makes Wilhelmina furious and Daniel somewhat upset, so they call out their rivals at ELLE over their sabotaging tactics. Luckily, Betty recalled who Teri said was catering the ELLE party that evening, and got the caterer to sneak her and Marc in to steal back the dress, just in time to escape the clutches of Teri after she spots the two. Arriving with the adorned dress at Wilhelmina's party, Betty gets invited in and has the opportunity to rub elbows with the fashion elite. When Jodi spots Betty (as she was looking at her cellphone message from Hilda), Jodi told her that she was surprised to see Betty at an event like this and told that didn't have to worry about being kicked out of YETI.
Unfortunately, after Jodi left, Betty learned that Hilda left several more messages on her phone and when she answered it, she raced over to the hospital, where Hilda told Betty that Ignacio had a heart attack.
Meanwhile, Daniel and Wilhelmina's feelings over Molly and Connor respectively continues to take center stage, with Wilhelmina showing Daniel the security footage of his almost-kiss with Molly and encourages him to follow his heart, which Wilhelmina uses as a ploy so she can pick up the pieces of Connor's. At first, it doesn't seem like the plan will work since Molly (who told Daniel that she and Connor had been engaged for four years) reacts to Daniel's revelation of his feelings by leaving Wilhelmina's party upset. But she later shows up on Daniel's steps, saying she's dumped Connor. She and Daniel consummate that almost-kiss from long ago. Likewise with Connor after he looked very susceptible and admiring of Wilhelmina at the party, then makes a huge surprise by going to her home later and kissing her.