Fashion-Impaired to Trendy

Montgomery Blair High School senior Erinn Johnson-Long, left, went from the hot seat on "What Not to Wear" to a $5,000 spending spree in New York as part of her makeover. (TLC)

Another scene shows Johnson-Long getting ready for school in flowered shorts and a clashing top.

"She's not going to school dressed like that, is she?" Kelly asked.

"I hope not," London said.

A few days after Johnson-Long was selected for the show, she flew to New York with four suitcases filled with her old clothes. The show features a ceremonial trashing of some of her favorite items: the denim overalls that earned her the nickname "Farmer Joe," the blue top she wore to homecoming that the style gurus said looked like scuba gear, the striped pants she had had since middle school.

"Some of the stuff they were saying, I was like, 'I know, I know,' " Johnson-Long said last week while sitting in a Starbucks, decked out in her new clothes. "I had gotten so attached."

But then the fun really began. She spent two days shopping at trendy New York stores -- and never once looked at a price tag.

She bought knee-length skirts and fitted blazers, bright colors and pointy high heels. Then the show's hair stylist smoothed out her locks and fixed the highlights that Johnson-Long had tried to do herself. A makeup artist taught her how to pick bolder colors for her makeup -- coral blush, tinted lip gloss and blue eyeliner.

"I just want people to see me more, you know, as a young adult than a kid," she said during the episode.

By the end of the episode, Johnson-Long proved to the style gurus that she had learned her fashion lesson and was ready to fly home in time to take the SAT college-entrance exam.

"What are you going to wear?" London asked her, jokingly, during the program. "Because that's more important than if you studied for them."

With a gleam in her eye, Johnson-Long responded, "Probably my pajamas."

Then she laughed and gave the answer the style gurus were waiting to hear. "No, I'm just kidding. I'll wear my pajamas only inside the house now," she said.

And as for the SAT? Johnson-Long said she scored a strong 1100 out of a possible 1600 points.