The House | Two decades on from the original, can ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ still impress? Rosie Wrighting says yes

Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly and Stanley Tucci as Nigel | Image by: FlixPix / Alamy

3 min read11 min

I was nine when the first The Devil Wears Prada film came out and – having spent most of my teenage years dreaming of and working towards a place in the fashion industry – to this day one of the first things people outside fashion ask me is: “Is it really like The Devil Wears Prada?” And honestly, while it’s an early 2000s film made for entertainment, parts of it do show the industry in a very real light. That real light being that the fashion industry is very tough yet brilliant.

It’s an industry that encapsulates you. You have to not just work in it but live it – because its consumers, readers and followers do. The people I worked alongside are some of the most resilient, commercially minded and driven people I know, and in fashion there is no path to success without teamwork, leaning on others’ talents and hard work to create an end product.

I developed a level of resilience working in fashion that I need every single day in Westminster. The first film conveyed that – yes, as an exaggerated, watchable version – but the speed at which you need to make decisions, the competitiveness and the absolute love of the art you are creating: that is real.

Almost two decades have passed since that first film. By the time I went to study fashion, technology was already profoundly changing the industry. When I graduated during Covid, the world of the runway and the head office felt distant and uncertain. So, when I heard a sequel was coming, I was sceptical. Could it capture a fashion industry reshaped by social media, one where print media is no longer the primary source of fashion news, where AI informs buying decisions and Gen Z dictates the trends?

Andy has a love story in the film. But she didn’t need one

I am glad to say I was wrong to doubt it. The second film is honest about the changes the industry has faced rather than retreating into the romanticised version of fashion that exists in the public’s imagination. 

It shows fashion as it is today and, crucially, it shows that fashion is quick to adapt. The world has changed, but the passion has not. The film carries a raw affection for the industry – an affection and protectiveness I recognise, and that I bring with me when I advocate for it in Parliament.

Andy has a love story in the film, but she didn’t need one. The real love story is the relationships you build when you are working with people to create something you love, and hoping others will love it too. That is what keeps people in this industry through the hard years. That is what the sequel chooses to celebrate.

The clothes are beautiful. The characters are as compelling now as they were then. But what makes this film worth your time is that it shows the industry the way those of us inside it have always known it: demanding, commercial, creative and brilliant. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is, more than anything, a love letter to fashion. And it’s one the industry deserves.

Rosie Wrighting is Labour MP for Kettering

The Devil Wears Prada 2

Directed by: David Frankel

Venue: General cinema release