"My power is only equaled by my sense of fashion."
"Style Queen. I am Hawk Moth. You've been refused a throne that is rightfully yours. As queen of fashion, you will now be able to revenge those fashion disasters who disrespected you!"
— Hawk Moth
Audrey Bourgeois, famous fashion critic and Chloé's mother arrives in Paris for Gabriel Agreste's fashion show. But the spectacle gets a major interruption when Audrey gets Akumatized into Style Queen, and plots to get even with Gabriel for denying her a front row seat! And even after the battle's done, an unexpected event will unveil a huge surprise!
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Well, we don't see her actually physically harm her or anything (well, when not akumatized, at least) but Audrey can hardly be bothered to acknowledge Chloé's existence or remember her name. If she cares about her at all, no sign of it can be seen in this episode.
- Accidental Misnaming: Audrey can never get Chloé's name right on the first try.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: For once, Gabriel is upstaged in the evil department by his minion. For all his flaws, our Big Bad is a husband devoted to saving his wife and a father who loves his son; both qualities are on display in this episode. Audrey, meanwhile, is an utterly loathsome woman who treats her own spouse and child like garbage even before getting Akumatized.
- Bad Boss: Audrey tends to fire people at the drop of a hat, even people that don't work for her. This is so prominent that "you're fired" becomes the catchphrase of her akumatized form.
- Bait-and-Switch: The preview made it seem as if Ladybug was going to give the Bee Miraculous to Chloé... when it instead turns out that she was going to give it to Alya. It ends up not mattering anyway, since Style Queen incapacitates Alya and causes Ladybug to drop the box which Chloé finds and opens later at the end of the episode.
- Batman Gambit: Audrey's akumatization was planned by Gabriel from the beginning.
- Been There, Shaped History: According to Master Fu, Plagg sunk Atlantis, tilted Leaning Tower of Pisa and wiped out the dinosaurs.
- Blatant Lies: Master Fu tells Marinette that Cat Noir can't help because he lost his Miraculous. Tikki knows very well what the real reason is.
- Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Since Adrien is Style Queen's first victim, Hawk Moth's efforts to get both Ladybug and Cat Noir are somewhat problematic, and Ladybug's attempts to call him likewise fall flat. Plagg shows up at Master Fu's and tells Marinette that Cat Noir is indisposed because he misplaced his miraculous.
- Call-Back: Adrien models Marinette's hat from "Mr. Pigeon", where she won Gabriel's design contest. Marinette also replaces the hat's natural feather for an artificial one, as said episode also revealed Adrien's allergy to feathers.
- Destructive Saviour: For the first time Plagg uses Cataclysm without Cat Noir. It wreaks destruction across the city.
- Didn't Think This Through: Hawk Moth turns Audrey into Style Queen, but is horrified when the first thing she does is turn his son (who was nearby her when she became Style Queen) into glitter. He rolls with it since he doesn't have a choice, but urges Style Queen to act quickly.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Seeing Adrien as a golden statue, laying on a golden coffin protected by a forcefield might remind someone of a tomb shown in a mausoleum. And this situation also equivalent with Dead Guy on Display as Style Queen announces that she will make his body completely disappear into glitter dust in the wind to every Parisian.
- Evil Is Petty: Gabriel has Nathalie deliberately slight Audrey in petty ways so that she'll be as furious as possible when he akumatizes her.
- Godzilla Threshold: With Adrien transformed into glitter dust and Ladybug about to suffer the same fate, Plagg has to use Cataclysm on his own to save both of them. It snaps the Eiffel Tower clean in half and creates an ever-expanding cloud of dark energy that wreaks destruction across the city, but the falling debris stuns Style Queen, giving Ladybug enough time to destroy the akumatized object.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: If her behavior is anything to go by, Chloé gets most of her Alpha Bitch tendencies from her mother. She is narcissistic, conceited, believes everyone and everything should cater to her and believes she has the authority to fire anybody (including people who don't even work for her).
- Made of Air: Style Queen is made of glitter so Ladybug's yo-yo just passes right through her. Style Queen is also smart enough to take her golden rose, the one solid thing holding her akuma, and place it with the glitterized Adrien behind a shield, making sure there is absolutely nothing on her that has substance. Ladybug gets around this by covering a flag in glue and using it to capture parts of Style Queen.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Usually when one of his villains fails, Hawk Moth shouts bloody vengeance, often accompanied with pun or an Evil Laugh. Here, he seems especially somber at a loss from a villain made from someone as corrupt and malicious as Audrey Bourgious.
- Out of Focus: This is the first episode without Cat Noir.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Plagg can use Cataclysm independent of Cat Noir, but lacks any finesse. He snaps the Eiffel Tower in half and nearly brings down an entire city block when he uses it. Master Fu credits Plagg with the sinking of Atlantis, making the Tower of Pisa lean, and the extinction of the dinosaurs.
- Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs: According to Master Fu, we can blame Plagg for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
- Physical God: It turns out that human partners are very necessary Power Limiters for Kwamis. When Adrien uses Cataclysm, it destroys what he touches. When Plagg does it alone, it starts by wrecking the Eiffel Tower, and then continues, creating a spreading wave of dark energy that causes anything in its path to begin to crumble, including large bridges and skyscrapers, and he sounds actually worried when telling Ladybug she needed to fix everything fast. The cracking continues even ahead of the wave; no knowing where or if it would ever stop. When you see the power unleashed by lightly tapping the floor with his Cataclysm, you'll have no problem believing that yes, he did singlehandedly wipe out the dinosaurs. Naturally, this would mean that the other Kwamis' powers are similarly world-changing in their raw form.
- Power Limiter: Cat Noir turns out to be one for Plagg. He badly needs it, too.
- The Reveal: Gabriel keeps his (probably) still living yet unconscious wife in a special chamber, and he wants Ladybug and Cat's Miraculouses to heal/save her. Though, like his identity, his motivation was clear many episodes before it was spelled out.
- Shout-Out: Gabriel's motivation for evil (saving his beloved wife, who he keeps in a special chamber in the meantime) is very similar to Mr Freeze's.
- Taken for Granite: Style Queen has the power to turn people into statues made of glitter.
- Time Abyss: We knew Kwamis were ancient before, but it turns out we didn't know the half of it: the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was Plagg's fault!
- Time for Plan B: Ladybug takes the Bee miraculous to give to Alya, since it has the power of subjugation and could hold Style Queen in place. Style Queen ruins this plan by blasting Alya and making Ladybug drop the box, forcing her to fall back on her Lucky Charm.
- Villainous BSoD: Gabriel is distraught when Style Queen, one of the strongest akuma he's created, still isn't enough to overcome Ladybug.
