A low-profile TV crew stepped into Carytown today, part of a stealth effort to find firm undergarments, sexy dresses and sleek jeans for a lucky lady from Glen Allen.  

Unless you were at the right place at the right time, you may never have known that Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine were in town — a development that caused quite a bit of fluttering among our staff.

The fashionable British duo, who starred in the original BBC production of What Not to Wear in 2001, are filming a new show for TLC, Making Over America With Trinny & Susannah. A cheerleading coach and the mom of a 9-year-old, Jennifer Stagg was the subject of the makeover.

The premise of the show is that tall, lithe Trinny and curvy, blonde Susannah drop into their makeover subject’s town, knowing very little about her life except that she needs fashion help. They spend a day and night with her, going to work and sleeping outside her house in a specially equipped Airstream RV, examining her clothes and telling her what looks good and what she should throw out. Then they go shopping, educating the makeover subject and the viewer about accepting one’s body and appreciating clothes that flatter it.

Jennifer, a petite blonde who turns 30 tomorrow, says she’s never spent much time or money on herself, preferring to run into Old Navy to grab a T-shirt.  

When the show airs in late August or early September (we’ll let you know the exact date when we find out), you’ll see Jennifer go through bra fittings at Pennyrich, clothing changes at Pink and other stores, plus hair and makeup at Look salon. The reveal will take place at The Jefferson, where the staff and the stars are staying.

So, what do Trinny and Susannah think of Richmond? Turns out, we fare pretty well on their fashion scale. “The more mature lady dresses in a far more interesting way than they do at home,” says Trinny, wearing a royal-blue-and-gold-print dress over knee-length leggings. However, they still see the eternal “mum who’s put herself at the bottom of the list” and needs to remind her husband “why he fancies me.”

Susannah, in a sophisticated ’50s-style dress over a hot-pink sheath, says we’d all be better off abandoning shapeless T-shirts and capri pants “slightly too baggy in the butt.” And ladies, we need to be proud of what God gave us — a point Susannah drove home while wrangling my short-sleeved sweater into a more flattering look. (And yes, true to form, she copped a feel.) “Get those girls up there, front and center,” as supervising producer Devon Graham explains.

The ladies worked fast upstairs at Pink, pulling blouses and cardigans on and off Jennifer at lightning speed, quickly assessing whether a garment worked. A purple cocktail dress made a splash, with Susannah falling into awed silence and Trinny closely examining the hem and exhorting to Jennifer, “Don’t look in the mirror! Whatever you do, don’t look at the mirror!”

Most of the drama of the show comes with the moment the makeover subject sees herself in full makeup and new clothes for the first time — the purple dress was a candidate for the reveal, but another dressy outfit was chosen in the end.

Jennifer noted that her makeover was at a perfect time, as she enters a new decade: “You’re really an adult for real.”