I didn’t like the first 30 minutes of The Devil Wears Prada 2. With all the winks and nods to the original movie, I felt it was destined to become just another rehash borrowing nostalgic sentiments from sympathetic viewers.
That is until they brought in BJ Novak. I screamed at his Patagonia vest, because after all what is a better enemy for the Devil than McKinsey? Of course in 2026, the enemy of couture won’t be petty corporate feuds or some antagonistic individuals. Of course, it has to be cost-cutting. Restructuring. Optimisation. The whole field of professional, faceless management, so to speak, because the Devil cannot exist in the realm of HR and private equity. Gone are the days of The Individual. We’re in the age of numbers.
In a way, my favorite thing about the movie is not the fashion, which was realistic but also underwhelming. (This movie is even less of a Fashion-with-a-capital-F movie than the first one, which is surprising since that would be an easy route for fan-pleasing). It wasn’t the cast, which is remarkable considering how much I love Meryl Streep’s portrayal of an aged Miranda. (She grew frail and fallible and… verbose! — exactly how an old person does. It’s uncanny.)