The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Costumes by: Patricia Field, assisted by Tracy Cox
Directed by: David Frankel
This movie may be for you if: You’re really nostalgic for the mid 2000’s, you love Chanel, you aren’t triggered by the casual and aggressive fatphobia of the aughts, and you’re a sucker for a movie makeover.
Where to watch: Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+
My work on the 100 Fashion Films Project has led me to split most fashion films into one of two categories: movies about fashion, and movies that just have mesmerizing, culture-shifting costume design. In rare cases, films like Funny Face (1957), Mahogany (1975), and Clueless (1995) prove that some movies can successfully be both.
I don’t think The Devil Wears Prada is one of them.
Let me preface this by admitting that my opinions are almost certainly clouded by my age. During the summer of 2006, I was about to turn 15. The fashion of the time will forever be tinged by my own adolescent anxiety, set to the booming soundtrack of Lil Wayne mixtapes and the unmistakable sizzle (and smell) of someone nearby cooking their hair with a CHI flat iron. Nostalgic? Absolutely. Stylish? Absolutely not.
I don’t think I’m alone in looking back at the so-called fashion of the aughts with something less than fondness. While there are some elements of the Y2K resurgence that I can appreciate in their contemporary iterations, the real fashion of 2006 is largely not what the cool girls are buying into today. We were all wearing a lot of ridiculously ugly shit that has not aged well, and I don’t think that the beloved characters of The Devil Wears Prada were any exception.
Now before you freak out, don’t get me wrong: I think the The Devil Wears Prada is a really good movie. Streep’s legendary cerulean monologue is maybe the most famous fashion commentary in film history, and the Chanel boots are an iconic meme. A laundry company sent me a marketing email with florals? for spring? as a subject line earlier this week, a reference that would have made perfect sense twenty years later even without the hype of an upcoming sequel. The Devil Wears Prada is the stuff of fashion film legend, a standout in an era defined by the on-screen It Girl career of journalism, with a wardrobe that perfectly captured the cultural zeitgeist of the time.
Costume designer Patricia Field nailed it, as usual. And that’s exactly why I think the fashion of The Devil Wears Prada is kind of bad.
Though some people have come around to The Devil Wears Prada with nostalgic warmth, the film’s style was quite widely criticized at the time of its release. Editors and directors of real fashion magazines like Elle and InStyle described the 2006 costuming as a “caricature.” Despite their remarks, costume designer Patricia Field was nominated for the Best Costume Design Academy Award and BAFTA for her work.
“If they want a documentary, they can watch the History Channel,” she said of her fashion industry critics. Okay diva!
Best known as the force behind over two decades of culture-defining costume design for Sex and the City, Field can probably be credited with creating the 2000’s enviably-chic-writer-protagonist trope. Alongside Carrie Bradshaw and Andy Sachs, the Patricia Field School of Journalism alumni also includes Rebecca Bloomwood of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) and Betty Suarez of Ugly Betty (2006-2010).
The costume design of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) and 13 Going on 30 (2004) were also undoubtedly inspired by Field’s work on SATC, building on a media landscape that convinced tween girls across America that they too could stride towards their cubicle in Manolos and a Prada bag someday.
