Twenty Years Later, The Devil Wears Prada Finds Its Audience Again
It’s no secret that Meryl Streep ’71 takes pride in being a Vassar grad. As a Commencement speaker, former trustee, and parent of graduates, the woman who is possibly the most lauded screen actress in history is also likely Vassar’s most visible alum. So, when she teamed up in 2006 for The Devil Wears Prada with Anne Hathaway—who matriculated into the class of 2004 but later transferred elsewhere—it was a match made in Poughkeepsie.
Twenty years later, both Streep and Hathaway have stormed into theaters worldwide in a witty, poignant, and acerbic new sequel that has once again set Hollywood afire. Grossing over $433 million in its first 10 days, The Devil Wears Prada 2 has already financially outpaced the original. Set once again in the haute couture environment of print fashion journalism, the sequel updates the action for a changing media landscape of corporate takeovers and digital encroachment.
Critical praise has matched the box office receipts, with The New York Times raving about Streep’s performance as a haughty fashion editor-in-chief: “Meryl Streep’s turn as Miranda was so vivid, so strong and exactingly detailed that the performance stood on its own; it was almost easy to forget that the character could have been inspired by anyone.”
Hathaway’s reprisal as Andy Sachs has garnered the actress her own plaudits. The New Yorker declared that “Hathaway once again shoulders Andy’s mix of steeliness and flightiness with consummate grace,” while The Hollywood Reporter calls her performance “effortlessly charming.”
While millions have flocked to see the film, it’s likely that most missed one particular bottle of wine in the background of one scene. Vassar grad and accomplished vintner Nicole Sierra Rolet ’84 took to social media to gush: “In the Hamptons at one point Merryl (sic) Streep and Anne Hathaway are in the kitchen, and you can catch a glimpse of a bottle of Chene Bleu, the wine I make in France.” In her comment, she said she strives to fly the flag for Vassar values: “Having pioneered regenerative viticulture, we don’t use any toxic chemicals in the vineyard nor microplastics in winemaking to protect our drinkers, the planet, and the communities that make the wine.”
Streep told Good Morning America the producers and cast wanted to make a sequel from the minute the original became a hit, but they had to wait until the right script came along. The sequel, she said, “is about the beauty people can put into the world. It's about art and commerce. … It used to be [that] the Borgias underwrote the great Renaissance art all through Italy, and now it almost seems like business is out front of the creativity and people. We're coming up from behind and recapturing. The future is human.”