YMMV / Pokémon Fashion Flash

• Designated Villain:
  • Somewhat. This is a rare case wherein Team Rocket not only runs a legitimate business practice, but one that doesn't care about money at all (Meowth is the only one displaying any real greed in regards to stealing Pikachu and other rare Pokemon, while Jessie and James are simply enjoying giving make-overs—Jessie even states that she and James don't care how many customers they get as long as they can do the job). That said, it is shown that many of said Pokemon don't like the make-overs they're being given, as shown with the Raichu and Dodrio that they prettied up...but then, Jessie and James don't seem to realize that.
  • Misty gets something of this treatment as well. Given how grooming, dressing up, and accessioning Pokemon has since become something one can do in Pokemon games (even as early as Generation 2 with the Haircut Brothers or Daisy in Pallet Town) and most Pokemon are just fine with it, the way Misty's stance on "outer beauty matters too!" is framed nowadays seems like Informed Wrongness, making it extra cruel that the episode punishes her by making her the Butt-Monkey who suffers a Humiliation Conga upon going to Team Rocket's Salon. On the other hand, it was her choice to go to the Salon in order to prove a point to Ash, so her Butt-Monkey treatment was largely the result of her own childishness and arrogance and getting mad at Psyduck even after he'd alerted her friends to the peril she was in doesn't do much to endear her to the viewers in this one (though to be fair, she didn’t know at the time that Psyduck had gone for help, so she may have genuinely though he’d ditched her).
• Fair for Its Day: The Camp Gay character who appears in the episode—he's VERY camp and obvious, but he's portrayed with no malice (beyond Ash, Misty and Brock gawking at him in alarm, and even that could be interpreted as reacting to his insane fashion sense) and is shown to be a genuinely Nice Guy. The narrative doesn't even draw attention to the fact that he's gay.
• Informed Wrongness: While Salon Roquet itself is shown to be wrong due to how the makeovers are based on the vanity of the trainers rather than the Pokemon's own wants and consent, and so the Pokemon visibly do not enjoy the make-overs that are more or less forced on them, the characters all talk as though Team Rocket's crime is to dare to place importance on outer beauty because it's what's on the inside of a Pokemon that truly counts. This message is later given an Author's Saving Throw in Suzie's later appearance during the Johto arc.