Do we ever see ourselves clearly?

Carrie and Stanford are all dolled up and fabulous at a bar eyeing beautiful people when he notices "the dirty haired Gucci guy," but with clean hair. Carrie wonders why he doesn't just go up and say hi. Oh please. Stanford is well aware what he looks like and is this close to paying for it. There's no need according to Carrie because he can't see what she sees. And with that, Stanford turns a cheek of warm thanks for her to kiss.

Margaret Cho plays Lynn Cameron "who's a much sought after fashion show producer as valuable to a show's success as valium or velcro." She tells Carrie how she "has so fucking just saved her life," and introduces her boyfriend, Damien. "I use the term loosely since Damien is clearly (insert Vanna White hand gestures here) a homosexual." Stanford perks up his posture as Carrie introduces him as her boyfriend then, as well. Lynn is doing a fashion show that combines models and New York people. According to her, NOONE is more New York and has more style than Carrie. Since she's a writer, she's a bit reluctant. Stanford is so coming to the show but Carrie's still sticking to the fact that she's a writer, not a model and he says, "then you can't see what I see."

At the coffee shop round table, Samantha's only eating organic food as of late. She was dreaming of a big mac the night before and the only cure was to get up, go out and pick up a guy. Carrie notices how amazing her body looks. Samantha hopes so because she's getting nude photos taken. Not for a man's approval mind you, but for herself.

Carrie drops the bomb about the fashion show. The girls are all excited for her especially since it's THE New York Style fashion show. But she's hung up on the fact that she's one of the real people and not a model. Charlotte wants to know what the difference is. Carrie lives for fashion shows and besides, what's the difference between the way she would strut down a runway or down fifth avenue? Carrie had no idea that she was a strutter. Everyone except Miranda thinks Carrie should do it. But she's concerned that people will judge her, think that she doesn't know the difference between herself and a model. Samantha doesn't give a fuck what other people think and besides, she'll probably get to keep the outfit. Carrie thought of that too, so now she's a model.

At Crunch gym, all sweaty and worn out, Miranda gets cruised by Dave. Enter Captain Crunch. She doesn't realize this and tries to get away until he tells her that he thinks that she's sexy. Miranda can't believe that anyone would think that she's sexy. Especially when she's covered in sweat and wearing old man's underwear. Smart yes, sometimes cute, but never sexy. Sexy is the thing she tries to get them to see after she wins them over with her personality. Carrie asks, "You win men over with your personality?" Miranda replies, "They want you to be a model?" Meow.

Samantha shows up in a white robe for her photo shoot. The camera man gives her the comfort speech and introduces his assistant, Tiger who makes music suggestions. She cuts them off, says that she's comfortable, drops her robe and puts her foot up on a pedestal. Tiger can't move.

Charlotte asks Carrie while they're shopping for the name and number of her Gynecologist. Carrie wants to know what's wrong but Charlotte is mum. Just leave the number on her machine please. Carrie wants to know if Charlotte has anyone for Stanford to date because if they don't find him someone soon, he's gonna start dating hookers. Back at home, Charlotte peruses her phone book and decides on Anthony Marantino (played deliciously by Mario Cantone), her wedding gown stylist. He's dating everyone right now and wants to know what Stanford looks like, or more precisely, who would play him in a movie. Charlotte says Ed Harris and Anthony thinks that's hot.

After a date with Captain Crunch, Miranda starts to believe him when he tells her yet again that she's sexy. The kisses don't hurt either.

Carrie answers her phone to hear, "Miss Motherfucker. Why haven't you returned my last two hundred phone calls." Lynn wants to know if she's in or out of the fashion show. Carrie still can't wrap her brain around the idea. C'mon, she's not a model and the whole walking down the runway thing is creeping her out. Lynn says that she's sure that Dolce & Gabbana can find someone else. Whoa. Ya see, each designer picks who they want to dress and they picked her. "Yes fuckette," cries Lynn, "and they are some picky Italians." Carries asks if she'll be able to keep the outfit. Cha-ching!

At Carrie's fitting, Alan Cumming plays the Dolce & Gabbana designer "O" formerly known as Oscar, love. He and his gorgeous Italian assistant spin, bend and primp Carrie like a stage prop. The dress they have her in is beautiful but floor length. Carrie apologizes for being so short and assures them that she's a learned Goddess in heals so feel free to jack her up like the big girls. She walks, she trots, she turns and they realize that if they put the dress on the grand exhaulted Heidi Klum, they won't have to take it up at all. Carrie stops on a dime when she hears that name.

Paul, a veteran fashion photog shows up to shoot the fitting for a behind the scenes at fashion week book. Carrie knows who he is, she loves his work and has some of his books. He shoots only off stuff now, so forget about posing and trying to look good. He wants you when you least expect it and that's exactly when we look our most intriguing. Carrie has a hard time with this idea and tries to get him to shoot her only when she's ready, but no dice. Paul can't figure out why someone who's uncomfortable having their picture taken would be in a fashion show. Carrie's in it for the free goods. O trots off to find a different dress while Paul makes a date with Carrie. He comes back with a blue sequined, sleeveless and asks her, "do you likey?" We likey!

Charlotte finds out that she doesn't have a yeast infection. The Gynecologist has an entire file of women with the same symptoms and it could be vulvodynia. It's not serious, just mostly uncomfortable and can be kept under control with a mild anti-depressant. What? But Charlotte's not depressed? The Doctor tells her, "It's not for you, it's for your vagina."

Samantha wants Charlotte's professional art-eye opinion on her nude photo contact sheets. As Charlotte goes over the small images with a magnifying glass she almost pulls her neck out from jumping away from them so fast. They're not very arty, she can see her... everything! Oh that's just the full frontal, Samantha did that to warm up. Charlotte wishes she would have warned her. Samantha reminds her that it's just a vagina. But to Charlotte, it's magnified and she's never even seen hers that close! The girls are shocked. Samantha insists that she go home right now and whip out a hand mirror. Better yet, borrow her compact and hit the ladies room. Charlotte doesn't wanna look, she thinks it's ugly. Miranda says, "Maybe that's why it's depressed."

On her second date with Captain Crunch, Miranda is all boozed up and feeling way confident. She tries to kiss him but he pulls away before she can. What changed?

At the frame shop, Samantha whips out her nude photo hoping to get the guy behind the counter all hot and bothered but he doesn't budge. Even though she did this for herself, she still wants recognition. This guy was not into it at all.

Carrie reminisces about her early days in New York with the photographer. She confesses that back in the day, she'd by Vogue instead of dinner because it fed her more. He used to do all that high fashion shit but now he's into reality. Carrie goes yuck. He tries to convince her that it's our flaws that make us so much more beautiful. Forget that, Carrie wants to know about the models. Who's a bitch and who's a bigger bitch? Paul doesn't shoot and tell. He wants to know why she's so fascinated with the models. Because they're so beautiful. He pulls out one of the shots that he took of her during the fitting and says, "you show me one model who's more alive and more beautiful than her." We're shown a picture of Carrie's exuberant, joyous essence. He captured it forever.

Okay, here we go. The next sequence of events is probably one of the most thrilling and suspenseful things I've seen in a long time. Major kudos to the director and all involved. Carrie arrives backstage at the show with Stanford who's wearing a mustard yellow suit and tie with a red shirt. Sounds hareen but it works and we likey. She kissed Paul last night and Stanford thinks that's just so beyond typical. The model dating the photographer. Carrie finally says it, "Stanny, I'm a model!" Giggle giggle giggle. Stanford almost has a stroke when a male underwear model slips in between them. He wants to know if he looks alright for Charlotte's fix up with Anthony. Carrie tells him that everything including him is fabulous but she can't think about him right now, she's a model. Stanford corrects her, "supermodel!" Carrie tells him that she had the designers put her in these super high high heals and she's gonna be so freakin' tall. They locate the backstage coordinator to find out where Carrie needs to be. He flatly tells her over with the non-models. "What's her problem." The emotional rollercoaster that Carrie goes through is so real. She believes it now. Not only does she have the right and was asked to be there, but she's ready to stick her flag in the runway.

Carrie glows when she finds the polaroid of the dress that she's going to where. Stanford notices the list of other real people; Frank Rick, Fran Leibowitz. Crash. Lynn walks up and wants to know what the fuck's wrong with Carrie. She feels like an idiot. What, Dolce & Gabbana couldn't get Ed Koch? Gucci got him. Carrie actually convinced herself that she belongs here. Stanford insists that she does. She just wants to go home. Sorry, the show is timed per model. A tub of baby champagne bottles on ice miraculously appears and Lynn sticks one in Carries face, lighten up. Stanford says, "Okay so you're not Heidi Klum, but your the modeliest of the real people."

Out front in the audience, Miranda wants to know what is UP with Captain Crunch. One minute he says that she's sexy and the next minute he won't even kiss her. Sitting directly in front of them are two very rich ladies who lunch. Samantha claims, "Who knows, he's a man. You could lay your pussy on a table right in front of one and still not know what he's thinking." The two ladies turn to see where the hell that came from and Samantha smiles at them ever so politely.

Just when it couldn't get any worse backstage, the hot Italian assistant tells Carrie that there's been a change. She's not wearing the blue dress, she's wearing this. This is a pair of skin colored, jeweled panties. Carrie stutters that she's gonna need to speak with someone. O had to make the change because Dior is going to show something similar to the blue dress right before Carrie. Alan Cumming just kills me when he twitches out the line, cigarette dancing "It's a fashion house of cards love." She can't wear jeweled underwear. How can she make this clear, "Me no likey." Paul appears and Carrie asks him if he can do something. He shoots half a roll of film. Okay, not that. O convinces her to try them on. Don't worry, they come with a fabulous coat. Carrie slips behind a rack of clothes frantically trying to explain that she has a certain style, she's a writer. O interprets that to mean that Carrie is afraid of looking bad. They're Dolce & Gabbana for Christ's sake, if she looks like a whale they'll put her in something else.

Carrie's taking too long and the assistant dives in after her to so O can see. She screams and they likey. Okay, now it's time for the hair. It's all wrong, we need big hair.

In the audience, Charlotte and Anthony arrive. Anthony is a total bitch and is very rude to Stanford. He's pissed that Charlotte would fix him up with someone that looks like Stanford. But, but she really thought that they'd hit it off. Anthony snits, "What, because he's gay and I'm gay? Look let me clear something up for you. I'm a nice little package. I have good arms and a high, tight ass. I could do a lot better."

Stanford runs backstage to bitch to Carrie. How could Charlotte fix him up with such a queen? Carrie cannot deal with this right now. She's got seven hair extensions plastered to her head and her hair's getting a nosebleed. She sends him off to find her another champagne. When she looks in the mirror and comments about how big her hair is, the stylist says thank you. O pops up with Kevin Aucoin (real life make up artist for the show) in tow. They need big eyes to go with the big hair and he's a big fan of her columns. He tells her not to worry. Stanford comes back with the champagne and Carrie is freaking out because no one will listen to her, they just keep telling her that she's fabulous. She wants him to go out and get Samantha. She'll tell Carrie the truth but Stanford doesn't wanna go back because that queen is out there. The look in Carrie's eyes propels Stanford out in spite of the imposing queen drama.

All but a few precious seats are full and the music is louder by the time Stanford gives Samantha his backstage pass. He tells her that there's a crisis backstage. Stanford sits down with Charlotte and asks where her highness went. Charlotte tries to be nice and lies to him. Stanford says, "I've been rejected by someone that I'm not interested in. I hate when that happens." Amen.

The coordinator tells Lynn on his headset that "we're okay to go." The camera pans over the frenzy of the audience, to the control booth and stops on Lynn. The lights fade, the music is cued and the first model saunters out onto the runway followed by Ed Koch (!) in a Gucci tuxedo.

Carrie slowly slides into the view of a mirror and holy shit. It's amazing, this artform. From where I sit, Carrie lives in the model stratosphere. What I wouldn't give to be born with her gifts. And here I am feeling connected to her by the same horrible, self-questioning insecurities. Carrie can't believe her eyes. Just then, Samantha walks in and when she spots Carrie, stops dead in her tracks. Carrie wants the truth. Samantha can hardly speak and vehemently reassures her that yes, she is a model. Carrie notes how tall she is. The shoes were her idea. Samantha slips back to her seat and Carrie starts to get psyched. Heidi Klum walks up to check the mirror one last time wearing the dress that O originally wanted to put on Carrie. She thinks that Carrie's jeweled panties are faaaaabulous and asks her if she looks okay. A moment in Carrie's life that she'll never forget. You're asking ME if YOU look okay!? Carrie tells her she's fabulous. Heidi says that it's time to go, so let's go. Whew.

The Italian assistant pops up one more time to fix her coat. A stunning calf length, blue satinesque jacket that's belted over her tummy. He wrenches it open wider to show more flesh and jewels. Carrie fumbles with the curtain and she's off.

Back in her seat, Samantha beams, "Wait 'til you see our gal." She's coming out next. The announcer says, "Dolce & Gabbana." From the booth, Lynn says, "Carrie. Go." And here she comes. Carrie walks out from the side and does this subtle, professional, heart-stopping turn on her heel. And for a moment, time stops. She's so there, so centered and so powerful. Her friends can't breathe and neither could I. Seven struts down the runway and one of her Godzilla shoes wobbles and falls off and Carrie goes flying. She hits the dirt, arms spread, flat on her face. When I first saw the episode I was screaming, "NO NO NO NO NO!" The audience gasps, Lynn says, "Fuck me hard" into her head seat and cues Heidi to GO! Paul, the prick, moves in and takes another half roll of film of Carrie during her most horrible moment. She barks at him to stop fucking taking her picture! Her friends are mortified for her. Still splattered on the floor, Heidi Klum sashays out and STEPS OVER Carrie. Stanford cries, "OH MY GOD she's fashion roadkill!"

Carrie thinks, "I had a choice, I could slink off the runway and let my inner-model die of shame or I could pick myself up, flaws and all and finish." Samantha mouths, "Are you okay?" Carrie rolls her eyes and with the hardcore character that she's just earned, gets her ass up, shoe in hand and starts moving. This makes it even more of a feat. She does it with one shoe on no less. Her friends give her a standing ovation and the rest of the audience follows. And she does it so well. Heidi passes on her trip back and gives Carrie a lo-five which brings her right to be there, home.

Carrie's act of bravery inspires her friends to do the same. Miranda faces her fear of knowing the truth when she confronts Captain Crunch at the gym. She thought everything was going so well, why did he pull away? Well, because she all of sudden seemed so full of herself. Ain't that a bitch? Poor Miranda. She reacts by reverting back to her guarded, protective self. We see this from her reaction to another man walking towards her. Her body goes into full attack mode until she can get away.

Samantha decides to have a cheeseburger delivered and chow down. The delivery guy notices her nude photo on the wall. As she pays him he looks right in her eyes and says, "nice ass." She doesn't think that she tipped him enough and slips him another twenty.

On the edge of her bed, hand mirror in hand and one leg up Charlotte faces her fear of herself. As she runs the mirror down her body there's a look of hope in her eyes, but as she gets to her destination a look of horrified confusion comes over her face. Mesmerized, she bends over until she falls off the bed.

In her apartment, Carried tucks away her jeweled panties and goes back to her life as a real person. In her closet, she does this model bit for the camera and shuts the bathroom door on us. If you stuck around for the credits to roll, she pops back out for a moment.

This was by far one of the best episodes yet.

Patty Opinion: She called before the credits stopped rolling.

Lynn Cameron (Fashion Show Producer played by Margaret Cho): You're fucking doing my show if I have to hunt you down, skin you alive and have one of the other models wear you.

Samantha: This photo is just for me! So that when I'm old and my tits are in my shoes I can say, "damn I was hot."

Charlotte: I was a teen model when the Ralph Lauren store opened in New Haven.
Miranda: Okay, it was amazing that I could keep my lunch down just now.

Anthony (Charlotte's wedding dress stylist): Sorry, thought it was my Mother. FIFTEEN phone calls to make sure I get her the cheapest possible sheets from Bed, Bath and Friggin Beyond!

O (Dolce & Gabbana Designer played by Alan Cumming): Oh look what the pussy's dragged in.

Samantha: Who knows, he's a man. You could lay your pussy on a table right in front of one and still not know what he's thinking.

Anthony (Charlotte's wedding dress stylist): What, because he's gay and I'm gay? Look let me clear something up for you. I'm a nice little package. I have good arms and a high, tight ass. I could do a lot better.

Stanford: OH MY GOD she's fashion roadkill!