MINNEAPOLIS – Clinton Kelly will always remember his recent visit to the Ridgedale Macy’s in Minnetonka, Minn., thanks to the “chicken lady.”

Kelly, co-host of the TLC reality show “What Not to Wear,” was on the last stop of a 19-city tour. Following a fashion show, he invited Rose Hegi onstage to scrutinize her style in an imaginary “360-degree mirror.” It’s a trademark moment of epiphany from the show, on which people allow Kelly and co-host Stacy London to brutally attack their wardrobes in exchange for $5,000 makeovers.

Hegi was wearing a chambray shirt adorned with appliques of chickens.

“Is this a plant?” Kelly said to the audience, who roared as if they were in a comedy club instead of a department store. In addition to the shirt, Hegi wore angel earrings and socks with a teapot motif.

“Besides the chickens, you’re tucking in, and the rise on these pants is about 3 feet too long and the pants are tapered,” Kelly said. “You can untuck and do a belt over the shirt or you can give it to me and we can all light it on fire.”

Later, he reflected on the interaction: “She was so sweet, I almost felt bad, but it had to be done.”

Alas, when Kelly picked the winning name in a drawing for a $500 gift card and Kelly’s input on how to spend it, the winner was not Hegi, but Diane Reuteler.

But there was still hope: After the presentation, Hegi, a mother of six who was accompanied by her twin 22-year-old daughters, reflected on her experience. “I was sort of embarrassed up there, but he’s such a nice guy,” she said.

Then Lara Olson, a retail sales representative for Polo Ralph Lauren, approached Hegi and told her she wanted to buy her a new shirt and get Kelly’s stamp of approval.

Within minutes, two transformations were underway.

Reuteler worked with personal shoppers from Macy’s to assemble a rolling rack of options. On the show, the process of acquiring a new $5,000 wardrobe takes 10 hours, which is edited down to a 10-minute segment; this time, Reuteler spent only about an hour in the dressing room, while Kelly inspected each of the selections.

“I feel wonderful! Later, I’m going to say, what happened?” Reuteler said, adding that her shopping habits will be changing. “I will be more apt to grab a few things to try and not make a snap judgment.”

As for the chicken lady? It turned out that a new shirt just wasn’t enough. Hegi left the store in a new outfit: striped button-down shirt, denim jacket, black pants, red belt and earrings, all courtesy of Ralph Lauren.

Hegi was presented to Kelly for her final evaluation. “You look adorable!” Kelly said, hugging Hegi. “Walk around the mall and see how people treat you dressed this way, rather than covered in chickens.”

“These are the world’s most flattering pants,” Hegi said.

“That’s because they’re not tapered,” Kelly said.

As for the now-infamous chicken shirt, Hegi gave it to Kelly. He plans to post it on his Web site (www.clintonkelly.com) and auction it off for charity.

For the sake of his reputation, we can only hope that his luggage wasn’t inspected by airport security on his way back to New York.