When the first movie came out in 2006 I couldn’t watch it. Why? Cuz I wasn’t born yet.
Well, now that I am born and that the sequel is out in cinemas, I decided to watch it.
Actually, my dad asked me to check out what movies were being played at he cinema so that we could go and watch a family movie with my brothers. But then I noticed “The Devil wears Prada 2” and showed it to him. He then told me that we should watch it togther, and that I should watch the first movie at my own time. So that is what I did two days ago! Now hear what I have to say about it.
General Thoughts
First off, it was pretty enjoyable despite being about fashion industry politics. Not something I am paticularly interested in. Fashion and politcs both.
Not too long ago we watched Cars and were reminded of the slow pacing of past movies. My Dad did warn me that this one might be a bit slow as well. Honestly, I did not find it slow. It was more like the scenes were very slightly a bit longer then normal (especially the very first introductory scene), but this did not really effect my viewing experience. If someone came up to me and said the movie is slow, I would reply “Bro how bad is your attention span?!?” Instead of agreeing.
The protagonist, Andrea or Andy immediatly gave of nice girl vibes. Like I had one look at this girl changing her clothes at the very begining and was like “Haha a fellow too innocent, nerdy girl!” Can I also just say that she looks so pretty.
Sensual things
As I’m discussing the changing clothes scene, why do I have to see her put on a bra and stuff? The scenes of her and the other women putting on lipstick also give me the message of “getting ready” without showing them putting clothes on. There could have been shots of them going through their closets, putting on shoes/heels, doing makeup and putting on a coat. Would have acheived the same thing without making it awkward. Maybe I’m overreacting a bit but thats how I feel.
I also just hate the whole American thing of moving on to another boyfriend as soon as you break up with your previous boyfriend. Even if you’re gonna get in a relationship with someone not too long after a break up, at least spend a little time getting to know each other (like a year) before having sex man. This kind of relationship is more then just that. Eat togther, hang out, talk about interest. Actually build a meanigful relationship.
How I feel about characters
People at Runway
Emily, the first assistant is annoying (duh) but her missising the Paris runway event when she is the one actually interested in fashion is actually so sad. She is for sure a rude and jealous person but she is still a person at the end of the day and deserves to see her wishes come true. It was nice to see her smile when Andy offers to give her clothes to her after quitting the job. Also her blue eyeshadow looks bad.
The boss, or Miranda seemed evil at first, then seemed genuine then went back to evil, then decided to be in the middle. To be honset at the end I would say I lean towards a slight dislike for her, but not entirely. I feel like I should watch or do a proper analysis on her so that I can collect my thougths properly.
Nigel and Andy’s dynamic is great! Initally Nigel feels as brutal as the others but slowly becomes like a father figure (wikipedia says mentor figure but I disagree. Mentor’s aren’t happy to see their students wearing nice clothes and ask them to twirl around). I think I just have a thing for this kind of dynamic because one of my favourite One Piece characters is Kyros, who is the father of Rebbeca. Their relatonship and family is a huge part of their own stories, and the boader plot of the Dressrosa arc. The scene where Andy goes and complains to Nigel, and he tells her she is not trying her hardest was when I started to like him.
Friends & Boyfriend
I feel bad for Andy’s boyfriend Nate. It is pretty obvious as soon as the movie starts alluding to missing hangouts and overworking that she will break up with him. It is totally understandable that he broke up with her. Imagine you are having a serious talk with your girlfriend about the state of your relationship, and she decides to pick up her boss’s phone call in the middle instead of hanging up! Also, Andy’s interaction with Christian would constitute as cheating as far as I am aware, or at least shows that she is losing interest in her relationship with Nate.
I was happy to see them recouncil at the end and them not getting back together made more sense then getting back together. I feel similarly for her friends, where I can see why they are frustrated with her overworking under a rude boss. Later while skimming through YouTube I found out that a few video essays actually disagree with my take and consider her friends toxic. There could be points I am missing especially since this is not an analysis, so I’m open to other views.
I found it interesting to see that Doug (one of Andy’s friends) is the most supportive of her job in fashion. Especially since he is a guy and you would expect him to dislike it, just as the other characters and Andy (initally) do.
Others
Christian Thompson is a mostly good person, but when he and Andy first met, I immediatly assumed he would take up a antagonistic role. His behvaiour after providing the Harry Potter manuscripts feels odd. He is well aware she has a boyfriend, but straight up tells her he would like to be with her if she were not in a relatioship. While he does not pressure her to break up with him he once again says a similar thing and then at the exhibition kisses her on the cheek. Overall, he seems to struggle to stop himself from trying to be with her.
Perhaps this contibuted to my thoughts on him but Andy never is shown uncomfortable with the interactions and later does date him. If she is fine with it I can’t complain too much. So there is nothing majorly wrong he does. I am starting to feel that one moral of this movie may be that nothing is black and white.
Clothing analysis
Begining
I know it was rude of everyone (Nigel, Emily and Miranda) to judge Andy’s clothing choices but at the same time she is literally working at a fashion magazine company. Not wearing fashionable clothing suggests she is a novice who does not know what she is doing, (which is true!). This decreases the chance of anyone else in the industry taking her seriously, because she is screaming “I don’t know shit” whenever she would be going to an event. So the critisim is actually advice for her and the company’s reputation, not an insult to her (ok they definitely are looking down on her but the sentiment also has geninue basis).
Just imagine Miranda in her well designed clothing made of the finest quality cloths being follwed behind by a woman who can’t even brush her hair. Also the clothes they spend the most time insulting is just not asethethically pleasing. Even to I who like Andy is not paticularly interest in high fashion. Andy looks decent in her coats and the outfit she wears to the interview but the blue sweater and skirt just do not match well.
(image is a bit blurry unfortantly but you can see the clothes well. Hope you get what I mean by ugly skirt. )
(This is a pretty nice outfit but would not be called “fashionable”.)
Funny thing is I would say I perfer these kind of outfits more (I just like the idea of looking like a writer and wearing professonal cltohing and Andy’s inital clothes lean towards that more).
Change to High Fashion
Later, she decides to wear fashionable clothes. I have come to assume that fashionable clothing is ugly af but the ones in this movie actually look pretty great! I especially liked the large, chunky jewellery everyone wore. In comparison the men look sooo boring. The following images are some outfits I personally liked:
(with this speciifc outfit I remember thinking I liked her old hair better but this new style was great too)
After Leaving Runway
This is by far the most interesting, because this outfit shows the effect of working at Runway.
Notice that she has ditched the sweater and coat look, yet goes back to a more modest and simpler outfit. She opts for pants over a dress and retains a professonal more journalistic look, while adding a nice large necklace and a leather jacket to spice things up. It shows how Runway changed her, and how she has found a balence between what she learnt from there and who she is.
And those are all my thoughts! Hope you enjoyed. if you’d like to read more about The Devil wears Prada, you can check out the part 2 that I will be making soon where I discuss the sequel. If you’re interested in checking out some art (no outfit sketches and designs unfortunatly), check out my insta.