24 Fashion Films That Shit All Over The Devil Wears Prada
8. Twister.
Hey Hautties. You may have read the news that a very unnecessary sequel to The Devil Wears Prada is in the works. While fans of the OG may be rejoicing, I must confess that I just can't get on board. Not only am I not a sequels girlie, but if you didn't jerry from the title, I'm not a TDWP girlie.
The first film came out in 2006. Fashion was my thing, but it would still be years before I began studying it. I didn't enjoy TDWP then, even as a guilty pleasure watch, though I will give it credit in saying it's one of those rare film adaptations that are better than the books. However, this is a very low bar. The book characters, especially Andy, are even more entitled and insufferable, if you can imagine. Plus, you gotta wade through some gross, racist comments that don't bear repeating.
Much like I refuse to watch Love Actually at Christmas and I'm desperate for Hollywood to retire Bridget Jones, I don’t do films where a woman's body is the constant butt of the joke. This is very apparent in TDWP. As annoying as Andy was, she didn't deserve all the constant commentary about her weight and viewers in the early aughts, an era where body diversity was famously lacking, certainly didn't deserve it either.
Then you have the fashion, which could have been the film's saving grace. "Are You Wearing The..." "Chanel Boots? Yeah, I am." Outside of the items associated with the over-used soundbites we continue regurgitating almost twenty years later, nothing is all that memorable.
Anne Slowey, Elle's fashion news director, said at the time that the costuming was "a caricature of what people who don't work in fashion think fashion people look like" and I’d have to agree. Even upon first viewing with dreams of one day entering the fashion industry, the clothes weren’t aspirational. Everything was and remains too Old Money for my taste - far too much tweed, waist belts, Double C logos, awkward berets and preppy blazers.
I love the Patricia Field boutique in New York and have scored some amazing finds (long socks with SLUT embroidered on them and a transparent clutch in the shape of a globe). Yet, I realized upon writing this that I have a strong aversion to several of her on-screen styling efforts.
I've seen Sex and The City and I’m not a Carrie stan or get super wet for many of the fits. Lily Collins in Emily In Paris dresses like an absolute fucking joke but maybe that's the point. Not sure, haven't seen it, won't watch it.
Quick sidebar - I suggest checking out Viv Chen of The Molehill's recent article on the futility of carries fishing - her interpretations of the iconic character's fashion trump anything seen on SJP.
The thing in common with all these characters in their respective film and TV series is their adjacencies to the fashion industry and that they’re all just really shitty people. That could be why I don’t resonate with their wardrobes, but I couldn’t help but wonder (finger guns), is it necessary to promote every woman who works in fashion or has an interest in how they dress as either bitchy, whiny, shallow, needy or entitled?
While I’ve never worked in editorial (if anyone is hiring, feel free to slide into my DMs), I’ve been very fortunate to have had mainly positive experiences with women in creative fashion roles. I’ve read some horror stories from @thismerchlife (I’d watch the shit out of a film adaption of this account) and am pleased to say that everyone I work with currently is golden. In my past experience, there are only two jobs in fashion and retail that attract total assholes. I won’t share what they are. Store managers and marketing execs. The Devil peaked in high school or loves SEO.
TDWP sequel based on the follow-up novel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, would make absolutely no sense in the internet age where print media is on life support and all the creativity has been sucked out of content to promote ads or appease the algorithm. This storyline follows Andy and Emily putting their beef aside to launch a successful bridal magazine because Andy doesn’t think fashion is beneath her anymore.
According to Puck News, the film sequel will be unfaithful to the book and will show Miranda Priestly’s career winding down and her desperately wheedling advertising dollars out of Emily, who works at an LVMH or Kering-inspired luxury conglomerate. Anne Hathaway is yet to sign on, so perhaps without Andy, there is hope of redemption?
Something else I’ve been noodling on. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel almost paralyzed when faced with the prospect of watching films and TV series set in their professional industry? When I sit down to binge on something or snuggle up for a movie night, the last thing I want to do is think about work. I want to turn off my brain and watch something mind-numbingly stupid but in a totally different genre of my reality.
Is this a symptom of burnout and why I refused to watch House of Gucci (actually that might’ve been the piss-poor accents). Or why I have countless fashion documentaries saved to my watch list that I just don’t have the energy for and I’m kinda dreading the Isabella Blow biopic?
Even when I’m watching something that isn’t explicitly fashion-related, I’m still hyper-analyzing what everyone is wearing (I was devastated that the Tumblr account dedicated to Bojack Horseman outfits was deleted). This is also because even when TV series and films aren’t rooted in fashion, we’ve made it such a sport to repackage what characters wear into neat aesthetics, connect it back to the culture and resell it to the masses.
I know this because this is part of my job. Barbie, Challengers, The Sopranos, Succession. These are all shows I’ve seen that have made my work easier. Even if it wasn’t apparent at the time, upon reflection all the fun from viewing has been taken out. I can’t talk about the nerve-biting brilliance and enjoyment of watching the Roy kids scream at each other without recalling the countless times I wrote “Quiet Luxury” in an article.
Now that I’ve laid down some fairly incoherent thoughts, here is what you probs came for. A list of films I’ve seen with better fashion than TDWP. Some of these are probably pretty obvious, e.g., Funny Face and Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Edith Head and Hubert De Givenchy designing costumes - come on, that’s a slam dunk. And you already know how I feel about Practical Magic.
Joel also made me watch Twister the other day, so that goes on the list coz Melissa in the white suit. Oh and don’t forget Dusty’s tie-dye geometric hoodie - it’s 2024 and dressing like Adam Sandler is seen as personal style, right? Now the sequel is out and Daisy Edgar-Jones is killing the press circuit in head-to-toe new Chloé. As much as I despise sequels, you can’t tell me Twister isn’t a fashion film franchise.
Right, in no particular order…
1. Funny Face
2. Nocturnal Animals
3. Poor Things
4. Cruel Intentions
5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
6. Blade Runner
7. The Parent Trap
8. Twister
9. Practical Magic
10. Clueless
11. American Psycho
12. The Graduate
13. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
14. Empire Records
15. Scarface
16. Annie Hall
17. Zoolander
18. The Fifth Element
19. The Royal Tenenbaums
20. Jawbreaker
21. Melancholia
22. Priceless
23. An Education
24. The Batman
If you’re wondering why I picked any of these, slide into my DMs and I’ll gladly explain in more detail. If you think I've missed any, feel free to sound off below and I’ll get around to watching it…in the next 20 years.
YESSSS another TDWP fashion hater (ok it's just Andy's looks I detest - Emily, Miranda and Gisele are dressed in a way that looked very in line with what was actually prevalent in fashion magazine offices of that era i.e. a time when wearing flats in the office could get you told off if a senior editor saw them).
Pretty much any Audrey Hepburn film is guaranteed to be a 10/10 on the costumes front, quite an achievement when you consider this applies even to her black and white films.
I’ve just cheekily downloaded Pret-a-Porter from the 90s. Allegedly camp!