‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ is all about luxury, but to what end?

By Danielle Cherry 

Flashing lights. High fashion. Luxury brands. Everyone in the fashion industry wants to know, what will happen to America’s iconic style powerhouse, Runway magazine? As Miranda Priestley’s (Meryl Streep) fashion empire seems to take a hit, new award winning journalist Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is called in to put out the flames surrounding Runway’s apparent downfall. 

This movie is a nostalgia overload, picking up 20 years after the original movie. Not only have the actors gotten older, but the characters in the film have changed, moving into more prestigious positions than where fans left them back in 2006. 

Despite the massive time gap between the two movies, the writers make their best effort to keep the characters consistent—yet there is little development between the two movies. In the midst of all the job changes and life experiences for the characters in that gap of time, it feels like everything is the same.

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is everything the original movie was, but with the addition of the technological age. Like real-life magazines, Runway faces budget cuts and a lack of interest as people turn to the internet and Instagram to get their fashion advice— rather than Miranda’s high-end expertise. 

One of the beautiful things about this movie is the not-so-subtle undertone of the way journalism has become “out of fashion.” Andy makes a truly tremendous speech describing how journalism still means something in the face of the shift away from it. Viewers get to see the impact her writing has both in the fashion industry, and in saving Miranda’s job. 

Still the ever scary commander of Runway, Miranda makes me cower in my seat. Nearly every actor in this film from Meryl Streep to Emily Blunt has been nominated for or won an Academy Award, so to say this is a stacked cast is quite the understatement.Watching them all together again is a true privilege and testament to their commitment to these characters.  

While the actors have truly done some outstanding work, I was left wanting more from this film. It is a fun insight into the cutthroat nature of the fashion world (a place I am deeply glad I am not a part of), yet the characters do not change at all. 

The story follows a very similar plot to that of the first, their character arcs being roughly the same, with the main differences being Andy’s fashion sense and Emily’s new job at Dior. It feels like the writers hit copy and paste and changed a couple words and small story lines and ran the film.

This movie is certainly not an Oscar winner, but it is a fun watch nonetheless, drawing viewers back into the fashion world. To say some of the pieces I saw are fashionable is still to be seen, but the real root of the movie falls in its narrative on materialism. 

There is so much expense in fashion, yet everyone wants to be wearing a luxury brand. A particularly stunning push of this narrative is when Emily is showing off her workplace at Dior. As Andy asks about how expensive the handbags are, Emily responds along the lines of, our job is to make people want $3000 handbags, making luxury the new normal. 

To say this movie pushes materialism is an understatement. Throughout the story, characters fangirl about receiving expensive outfits with a famous trip to the Runway closet of dreams. In every regard this movie says: if you don’t wear luxury you are nothing. This is clearly a standard too high to place without anything cautionary around it. 

The other big push of this movie is in the world of journalism—incredibly relevant to the words you are reading, don’t you think? As Andy and Runway recognize, it is no longer easy to get people to pick something up and read it. But what the characters and movie discuss is true, words can tell a thousand more stories than social media ever could. 

I found myself grinning in my seat, as for the first time a movie pushed the true nature of journalism and storytelling. There was no tabloid plot, nor was there any indication of the press being bad at its core. As all of Runway saw, the words Andy wrote changed and saved their company. 

As Lady Gaga blares in the background of this movie all the materialism that is pushed makes the movie feel pointless. As the fashion world judged each other in their high-end custom Chanel’s, I sat in the theater judging all the same, just in my sweatpants.  

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is currently showing in theaters and will be released on Disney+ and Hulu.

Danielle Cherry is a junior communication major and writer for Cedars Sports and Assistant Editor and writer for A&E. She is a Missionary Kid from Germany and wonders if she could take a gander in the Runway closet—for research purposes of course. 

Images Courtesy of  20th Century Studios