The Devil Wears Prada 2? Goundbreaking. What The Sequel Got Right

Reported by Refinery29 Fashion.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 could have been a disaster. Twenty years between films, the sequel curse looming, every remake feeling sanded down by algorithm and cost-cutting—the odds were stacked. But something miraculous happened: this movie actually works. And it works because it remembers what made the original tick while refusing to be nostalgic in that hollow, corporate way.

The core cast returned—Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestley, Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, Emily Blunt as Emily, Stanley Tucci as Nigel—and brought the original creative team with them. But the sequel doesn't just recycle beats. We find Miranda and Nigel still running Runway, though the magazine itself is gasping for relevance. Emily's moved to Dior luxury retail. Andy's thriving as a journalist at the New York Vanguard before the rug gets pulled. The new characters—Miranda's assistants Amari and Charlie, Andy's assistant Jin—feel like actual people navigating today's fashion world, not caricatures. And the cameos land: Lucy Liu as a philanthropist, Justin Theroux as her sketchy ex, plus blink-and-miss-it moments from Paige DeSorbo, Heidi Klum, and Lady Gaga performing an original song. None of it feels cheap.

The Real Crisis Got Its Due

What surprised me most: the film tackles the media industry's actual collapse with teeth. Andy gets fired minutes after winning an award. Miranda battles legacy print's death and advertising's vanishing act. The characters discuss how readers now demand ethical fashion and credible storytelling—the very stakes that matter right now. It's genuinely uncomfortable, the way good satire should be, especially watching Miranda navigate her promotion to Global Head of Content (cue the Anna Wintour parallels). This isn't a movie coasting on "remember these iconic lines?" It's asking what journalism and fashion publishing even mean when everything's collapsing.

Costume designer Molly Rogers delivered looks that rival the original's impact. Andy's thrifted wardrobe—including that $11 Margiela jacket Nigel approves of—shows a woman with real style constraints and taste. There are monochromatic suits, skinny ties, statement plaid pieces. The Milan Fashion Week sequences (where Andy actually seems happy, unlike her begrudging Paris trip) become a character unto themselves, with fashion montages that justify multiple viewings. The soundtrack? Hits from Dua Lipa, SZA, Olivia Dean, plus Lady Gaga and Doechii's original "Runway." It's not trying to recreate "Suddenly I See"—it's building its own cultural moment, according to Refinery29 Fashion.

The real miracle is this: The Devil Wears Prada 2 understands that sequels work when they're not afraid to let the world change while honoring what mattered in the first place.

Read the original at Refinery29 Fashion.