After Carole Radziwill and Dorinda Medley returned from their trip to London to retrieve Carole’s husband's ashes, they wasted no time getting back in the swing of things with the rest of the Real Housewives of New York City. Carole met up with Heather Thomson for a drink and got the scoop on Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl party, which, in sum, was that Ramona Singer was underwhelmed by the selection of men and is terrible at being single.
Meanwhile, Sonja Morgan had been hard at work (or so she says) launching her fashion lifestyle brand, and enlisted the help of Bethenny and Heather Thomson in preparing to show her collection at New York Fashion Week. The only problem? When the ladies arrived at the rented conference room, they learned that Sonja didn't actually have any clothes ready to show them.
"You don't show the collection in bits and pieces," Sonja reasoned. "You do a fashion show, which we're doing, and you wow people when it's ready."
Model Meeting
Instead of discussing the actual collection, Sonja made use of Heather and Bethenny as model scouts. "I just don't understand the idea or even what she's looking for," Heather confessed to the camera later. "We're just seeing models!"
Bethenny and Heather were pretty taken aback when the first model walked in — and Sonja dismissed her as too thin with a flick of her wrist. "You shouldn't say that in front of the girls," Heather offered, which seemed to get under Sonja's skin.
"Heather, I did take offense to your comment, I took offense to your comment that I'm insulting the models because I'm the one who chose them," she snapped, prompting Heather to say Sonja did not have to take her help if she didn't want it. (In a rare occurrence, Bethenny actually stayed pretty much out of the fray.) "I love your help, I just felt that was insult."
Ultimately, the meeting ended when Heather asked what other brands Sonja and her team saw their collection "hanging with" in department stores, and they said something to the effect of … they have no idea. Uh-oh.
Cipriani Me Crazy
Ramona caught up with Dorinda over a rather civilized lunch and told a story that implied that Ramona was dating the owner of New York hot spot Cipriani. Dorinda responded by turning the conversation to something ever-so-slightly more meaningful — how her trip with Carole to London gave her closure with her husband's death.
"When Richard died, I went into a cocoon and I wanted everything very simple, very quiet," she began. "And then when I met John, when I wasn't focusing on Hannah, I was focusing on him." Ramona took the opportunity to ask Dorinda if John called her much while she was on the other side of the pond, and she happily reported that he did —which prompted Ramona to say (again) that she thinks John is very "insecure." (ICYMI, Ramona is not a fan of Dorinda's boyfriend, John.)
"I adore him," Dorinda reiterated. "I love him." Then it was back to Ramona and her pending divorce from Mario.
"Mario was a very good father and husband for many years, but at this point we're on different paths and they are never going to come together again," Ramona said, confirming that she and her ex were, in fact, done. Dorinda praised her decision, arguing that Ramona wasn't done being part of the scene just yet. (Dorinda's not wrong.)
A Passion for Fashion
Kristen Taekman was pretty pleased with herself for landing a co-branding partnership for Pop of Color with Elie Tahari during New York Fashion Week. Carole and Heather dropped by to show their support — but it was only a quick drive-by because all three of them had to jet to Sonja's first runway show.
"At this point, I'm running on adrenaline and fear," Sonja revealed backstage before the show. "We don't have the seating done," she lamented upon realizing many of the seat cards were missing. "I need to know when there's problems because I am the problem-solver!" she declared to a gang of deer-in-headlights-looking interns.
LuAnn de Lesseps, Dorinda, Ramona, and Bethenny were also on hand to cheer Sonja. The first things they all noticed, however, were Sonja's breasts, which were hanging out. "Nipple alert!" Dorinda cheered to the camera later. "Nipple alert!"
Ramona then commented to Bethenny that they were wearing dresses with similar hemlines that night, reminding the Skinnygirl creator of the dresses that she claims Ramona stole from her months back.
"You have two of my dresses hanging in your closet from your last Smash and Grab job, so yes, the odds of us wearing a similar-length dress are pretty good," Bethenny quipped to the camera. (In Bethenny's defense, she called Ramona out to her face as well. When Ramona announced she was having a “new beginnings" themed party, Bethenny said she thought it should be called “old habits." Burn.)
Runway or Bust
With three minutes to go before the start of the show, Sonja was backstage shouting something to the effect of, "This is not f—ing happening!" In other words, she wasn't too pleased with what she saw.
Finally, though, despite the odds, the show began — and it got rave reviews from her friends.
"The line coming down is beautiful," Heather mused, while LuAnn called the collection "very Ivana Trump." Carole quipped, "Wow, I'm speechless. The empress has clothes — really nice clothes!"
But when the show took a brief pause so the models could get into their second looks (something Heather noted should be happening seamlessly during the show, rather than requiring a break), all hell broke loose — at least, between Bethenny and Ramona.
Dressgate Lives
Bethenny took the opportunity to confront Ramona about saying that she had cheated on her first husband. "I said when Bethenny was first married, her relationship wasn't going well with her husband, so she had an affair," Ramona clarified, as if that were somehow better. Bethenny noted that she had been asked many questions about Ramona's marriage and had kept her mouth shut.
"I'm not perfect. Slit my wrists," Ramona snapped. "Crucify me." But Bethenny wasn't letting her off the hook so fast.
"No, that's not going to work anymore. You doing things and the next day saying you're sorry."
Ramona tried to deflect and move on once again. "You are who you are. I am who I am. Let's not throw stones at glass houses, Bethenny," she said. Bethenny replied by bringing up the two dresses she claims the True Faith creator stole from her.
"Your assistant gave me the freaking dress!" Ramona shouted.
"No she didn't," Bethenny replied.
"Then you gave me a dress which I still have and you can have it. I don't want the dress! I don't want the dress!" Ramona said. "Then I called because I couldn't find the dress because I have a lot of clothes and I said, 'Let me pay for the dress.'" She added that she had emailed Bethenny's office in an attempt to pay for the missing dress.
"Show me the email," Bethenny said before turning to LuAnn (who was seated on her other side) and announcing, "I will not be going to a new beginnings party."
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LuAnn didn't really respond, but was saved by the fashion show when the models reappeared. "Hallelujah! It's the second look," LuAnn cheered, not only because the show was starting up again but also (probably) because it saved her from getting sucked into that dress mess.
"I'm really proud of myself," Sonja beamed to the camera later. Next week hopefully we'll find out whether Ramona was able to produce that mysterious email.
Tell Us: Do you think Bethenny has a right to be mad?
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