The 'Devil Wears Prada' Sequel: When Satire Turns Into a Sales Pitch

Meryl Streep, left, and Anne Hathaway at a publicity event for 'The Devil Wears Prada 2.' Yonhap News/ZUMA Press What happens when satirical art becomes enamored of its subject? If you think this question skews highbrow, think again. I'm referring to the "Devil Wears Prada 2," which stars Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and a closet full of luxury fashion. In the two years since the sequel was announced, the prerelease hype has been, in a word, inescapable, particularly if you're female, at all interested in fashion or celebrity, or have heard of the color cerulean. You might assume the May 2 premiere marks a universe-altering event rather than what it actually is: A moneymaking endeavor playing into millennial nostalgia for recycled IP. That doesn't mean I'm not excited to see the film. It features the same cast as the 2006 movie -- the aforementioned Hathaway and Streep, plus co-stars Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci -- the same writer, Aline Brosh McKenna, and the same director, David Frankel. The original, based on author Lauren Weisberger's thinly veiled, workplace revenge fantasy about her time assisting Vogue's editor in chief, Anna Wintour, was a huge hit, grossing more than $326.5 million worldwide. Centering on Andy Sachs (Hathaway) as the aggrieved underling to the Devilish Miranda Priestly (Streep), it was fun and frothy, spawning endless memes before memes were even a thing. "I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight," is a personal favorite. When the first movie came out, I was an assistant editor at New York magazine, working in a thriving industry on the cusp of a digital revolution that would ultimately prove to be its downfall. Sure, it exaggerated our reality -- no magazine assistant, even at Vogue, came to the office dressed in head-to-toe Chanel. But there was truth in it; the toxic ambition, the long hours, the exciting feeling that you were working on something people cared about. The best part was the sneaky, slightly subversive pleasure of watching an admittedly light takedown of Wintour, who no one even dared to whisper a bad word about for fear of burning the most powerful bridge. "The fashion world was hesitant to embrace the first movie, because everyone thought that Anna hated it," says Amy Odell, the author of Anna: The Biography. Wintour, for her part, played the game. She attended the 2006 premiere -- wearing Prada. In a 2025 interview with New Yorker editor David Remnick, Wintour maintains she found the film "highly enjoyable and very funny," adding that she and Miuccia Prada still discuss it. "And I say to her, it was really good for you," says Wintour. "And you can imagine what she says back..." To which Remnick says, "No, I can't. What did she say back?" Wintour just laughs. "Anna's become such a fascinating character via 'The Devil Wears Prada' -- the workaholic, controlling editor with iconic hair and sunglasses, who was wildly successful and, for many years, was very good at her job," says Odell. "Anna tells her friends she'd like to be remembered for her philanthropy, but this movie is her legacy." Much has changed in the two decades after the first movie. Print magazines are really struggling -- last fall, Vogue announced it would reduce its annual frequency from 10 issues to 8, and just last week, Condé Nast, Vogue's parent company, announced it was shuttering Self magazine, as well as consolidating other parts of the business. (My current advice to young people hoping to get into lifestyle media boils down to: run away.) "The Devil Wears Prada 2" reflects this reality. The story follows "Miranda Priestly as she navigates her career amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing," according to the synopsis. It's all very meta. In September, Wintour announced she was leaving her job as editor in chief of American Vogue, while continuing to oversee things from Condé Nast's C-Suite. Unlike the first movie, a thorn in Vogue's side, the sequel is being rolled out as a joint project between the two brands. "The Devil Wears Prada 2" has been obsessively covered on Vogue's site, the magazine is hosting special screenings, Wintour presented at the Oscars with Hathawayand even Vogue's new head of editorial content, Chloe Malle (once an aggrieved underling herself), has been roped into promotional duties. The biggest splash of all: A joint cover of Vogue featuring Streep and Wintour. The accompanying video of the two women walking into an elevator has been viewed over 24 million times. "Vogue aligning with this movie -- Anna used to be above that kind of stuff, but now they feel like they need to do it. It's kind of like, how many viral moments can you create on your own?" says Odell. The film's global press tour kicked off in Mexico City in late March, and since then, its ubiquitous stars have appeared in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai, wearing red-carpet looks from Chanel, Valentino, Schiaparelli, Dolce & Gabbana and more. Interested in buying branded products? There are many to choose from, though the collaborations available at Walmart, Target, Old Navy and Amazon skew more moviegoer than movie star, including special-edition "Devil Wears Prada 2" tweezers from Tweezerman. Each $26 pair features a tiny red high-heel printed on the side. Which brings us back to satire falling victim to the world it is skewering. "The Devil Wears Prada 2" press tour has the distinct flavor of late "Sex and the City" rot, when the movies became an out-of-touch montage of luxury fashion brands and five-star resorts. Or the latter seasons of "Gossip Girl." Instead of poking fun at the outrageous Upper East Side lifestyle, the show endorsed it, with no irony. Both of those franchises suffered artistically for this move, their legacies forever tainted by it. At the end of the first movie, Andy quits her job at a fashion magazine for the less morally compromised ground of local investigative journalism (a twist that made us magazine people titter into our popcorn). It was a satisfying comeuppance, the assistant choosing good over high-heeled evil. Twenty years later, with magazines on their last legs, Anna, er, Miranda, is already diminished. Satire only works when the object of ridicule is in a position of power. I guess that means I'm rooting for the Devil. Emma Rosenblum is the author of the novels "Bad Summer People" and "Mean Moms."