There are certain films that every girl has to see in their lifetime. “Mean Girls”, “Mamma Mia”, “Clueless” and “The Princess Bride” are all examples of “need to see” movies. These movies are a staple in most teenagers’ lives, but for little kids who grew up with dreams of a career in the fashion industry, “The Devil Wears Prada” was likely one of their favorite cult-classics.
In June 2006, the Devil herself, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), graced the movie theater screens for the very first time. Recently graduated, aspiring journalist Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is faced with the harsh reality that the New York City job market is more selective than she had previously thought. After failed attempts to be hired at news stations across the city, Andy applies to work as Miranda’s assistant at the notorious fashion magazine, Runway.
Andy sticks out like a sore thumb in this world, where the brand of your bag and the designer of your heels matters more than your college GPA. The aspiring journalist knows nothing about fashion and nothing about the demonic woman that she is now working for. But what she does know is this: one year at Runway, and she can get a job anywhere in the city.
In her new position at Runway, she is forced to adapt in order to survive the toxic fashion industry. With the help of Runway’s Art Director and Fashion Coordinator, Nigel (Stanley Tucci), Andy learns how to actually match her pants to her blouse. She becomes Miranda’s most trusted assistant, replacing Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) as first assistant, and earning the right to accompany Miranda to Paris Fashion Week.
But this trust was not without its consequences. She missed events with her friends, drifted apart from her boyfriend Nate and effectively betrayed Emily by stealing her dream spot at Miranda’s side in Paris. Where Runway helped her to grow, it was also turning her into someone she did not want to be: Miranda.
The final straw for Andy was when she watched as Miranda betrayed Nigel. He had just been offered a job as a business partner and creative director for the James Holt fashion label, when Miranda went and undermined his position. Having been about to lose her own job to a French editor named Jacqueline Follet, she introduced Jacqueline and James Holt to one another. James consequently gave the role of his business partner to Jacqueline, and Miranda got to stay the Editor-in-Chief of Runway at the expense of Nigel’s dreams.
While Nigel was willing to wait for his turn once more, Andy did not appreciate Miranda’s willingness to sacrifice others to stay on top. When Miranda said she saw herself in Andy, Andy knew it was time to leave that life behind.
The job at Runway did end up helping Andy, though. When she applied to a news agency called The New York Mirror, Miranda told the editor that he would be stupid not to hire Andy. The iconic movie ends with Andy finally achieving her dream of becoming a journalist, reconnecting with her friends, fixing things with Emily by giving her all her clothes from Paris, and most importantly, learning how to style her clothes.
Nearly two decades later, the movie remains a fan-favorite for people across the globe. So much so that in 2024, 20th Century Studios decided that the movie needed a sequel. Officially beginning production in June 2025, long-time fans watched with mixed reactions as the original cast returned to New York City for filming of “The Devil Wears Prada 2”.
Followers of the original movie have since debated whether 20th Century Studios should have made a sequel. The standalone movie was considered groundbreaking due to exploring new character types and pushing the idea that fashion was a serious industry. Where other movies had true villains, purely evil characters, to push the storyline, “The Devil Wears Prada” had human ambition–which each character portrayed–driving the narrative.
Since the movie’s release in 2006, this type of story has been told time and time again. A sequel playing on the same themes would not hold the same power now as it did in the early 2000s. Disney, the parent company of 20th Century Studios, seemed to recognize this too.
According to Disney, the sequel only came when the story finally seemed right. Instead of doing a quick cash grab, The Devil Wears Prada team decided to let the original be, until they found a story in the modern world.
“It had to be something, a story that we found meaty and something we could really talk about how the world has changed … The seismic shifts in media and the ever-evolving dynamics of the workplace provided fertile ground for a new chapter,” the Disney corporation stated in Inside the Making of 20th Century Studios’ ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’.
The sequel’s story takes place in modern New York City, where newspapers and magazines have been replaced by reels and tweets. Like in the real world, journalism is turning to different forms of media to stay relevant. For Andy, this proves to be an issue when she loses her job at The Vanguard, a prestigious newspaper that is downsizing in response to the disappearance of long-form news.
This definitely reflects the current reality for journalism, where major news organizations have created accounts on social media platforms to broadcast their stories, with fewer and fewer hiring for true article writing. However, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” only talks about this issue to get the plot rolling, before leaving it behind for the woes of the fashion industry.
While Disney stated they wanted to reflect real-world dynamics, the majority of the movie fails to note them. Instead, the movie tries to bring back the nostalgia of the first movie through montages of fashion celebrities and clothes upon clothes. Yet, even that fails tremendously.
In 20th Century Studios’ ambition to reflect the real world in their story, they took away what made the original movie so unique. Where Miranda Priestly used to be the devil herself, it appears HR finally got their claws in her.
Many fans agree that the Miranda presented in the first and second movies are not the same. The once iconic editor-in-chief of Runway, who could see what others could not from a mile away, became a fraction of herself. Where Miranda once could freeze hell over with a pursing of her lips, she now allows her assistant to correct her and she no longer schemes her way to victory. In fact, all the scheming that took place in the movie was due to Andy, not Miranda.
While some may say this is character development, it has been two decades after all, others argue Miranda lost what made her a fan-favorite in the original.
To quote The Australian Women’s Weekly, “The stubborn, sharp-tongued and ambitious Miranda Priestly that we met in the original The Devil Wears Prada is, well… dead. “
But the lack of evil in Miranda’s personality is not the only flaw of “The Devil Wears Prada 2”. While Miranda may have had some — unwanted — character development, her second-in-command, Nigel, was lacking in it.
Nigel is the behind-the-scenes mastermind at Runway. As Art Director and Fashion Coordinator, Nigel serves as Miranda’s right-hand man, running the former magazine. His accomplishments were seen by many, as shown by his offer to partner with James Holt during the first movie, so it is surprising to see Nigel still working for Miranda in the same position. Even Emily moved on from Runway, eventually, despite fawning over the magazine her entire life.
Nigel always believed that Miranda would repay him for his efforts at some point. Miranda not doing so is, luckily, on point for her character, but Nigel never getting his big break feels unrealistic. Even worse, Miranda openly admits to not knowing about Nigel’s dreams in the sequel — another example of the screenwriters trying to make Miranda a “nice” character.
By the end of the movie, this issue remains unresolved. While production tried to trick us into thinking Nigel got what he was waiting for all along, in reality, nothing changed. He got to speak for Runway once, and then got to go back to skulking in Miranda’s shadow.
Additionally, Emily’s role in the movie was out of character. Emily, who idolized Miranda, always striving for her approval, suddenly betrays her? The Emily from the original movie would never do such a thing. Instead, Emily would have worked for Miranda’s approval. She’s a perfectionist at heart, not a schemer. Even in the first movie, Emily played by the books, never once falling out of line under Miranda’s gaze.
Andy and Emily’s charade took any nostalgia that remained in the movie into a completely unknown direction. The scene of them in the boat together felt less like a movie about fashion and more like a film about spies. Yet, Andy retaining her blindness toward other characters’ ambition is true to form . Otherwise, the film felt like just another fashion film — not a true sequel to the iconic original.
That being said, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” did have some highlights. The fashion montages and guest appearances from real-life celebrities made it feel like this could have happened in the real world, much like in the original. Not to mention that Lady Gaga and Miranda feuding was a welcome surprise, bringing a level of comedy to the film.
One surprise, which I embraced, was the inclusion of Andy’s friend Lily (Tracie Thoms), who made a return from the original movie. It was a reminder that, while Andy has changed over the 20 years since working at Runway, she is not a completely different character.
Overall, the movie was good. The issue is that when “The Devil Wears Prada” became a staple in teenage lives, it also created major shoes for a sequel to fill. If the movie had nothing to do with “The Devil Wears Prada”, then this review would probably have a much different tone. However, when put to the challenge of trying to meet the standards of the original movie, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” fails spectacularly.
3.5/5 stars.
