AllMovie

Quinn (voice of Wendy Hoopes) and Daria (voice of Tracy Grandstaff) suffer twin fashion faux pas in this episode of the animated MTV series Daria. The birthday of best friend Jane (voice of Wendy Hoopes) provides the occasion for Daria's blunder as she accompanies Jane's brother Trent (voice of Alvaro J. Gonzalez) on a shopping expedition. At first Daria mistakes the interaction for a date, but she sucks it up when she realizes Trent just wants help picking out Jane's present. The duo's quest somehow takes them to a tattoo and piercing parlor, where Daria finds herself submitting mutely to the insertion of a belly-button ring at the urging of Trent, her utter and complete love god. Jane, of course, soon ribs her mercilessly about enduring body modification for the sake of a boy. Meanwhile, Quinn and Helen (voice of Wendy Hoopes) become the helpless targets of Sandi (voice of Janie Mertz) and her ultra-competitive mom when both mother/daughter teams participate in a fashion show. Despite an arduous preparation process, Quinn proves a little klutzy on the runway. Devastated by an epic and very public fall, she lashes out at Daria by revealing the presence of her belly ring to their irate parents. Little does the failed catwalker know, however, that her sister's itchy incision has completely closed up thanks to Daria's inadvertent removal of the offending jewelry before the hole had time to heal. Saved from parental retaliation, Daria nonetheless seems a little sheepish about both her love-addled decision-making and her quick abandonment of the alterna-accessory. Trent and Jane, however, both convince her not to feel too bad. Jane herself feels pretty nifty after receiving art supplies from Daria and an original birthday ditty from her musician brother.