Almost 20 years ago, Andy Sachs checked her onion bagel breath as Miranda Priestly strutted through the offices of Runway with a gray Prada bag on her arm. Played by Meryl Streep, Miranda was an archetype that would shape the public perception of fashion journalism and withstand the transformation of the Internet. Everyone wanted to be her — in fact, millions of girls would’ve killed for the job.
On Nov. 12, the devil returned: cue Madonna’s “Vogue,” a song choice that somehow straddles the line between perfect and predictable. Miranda clicks her way down a hallway filled with frantic employees, the camera trained on her bright red pumps. A hand slides through the doors of an elevator, and Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs walks in, her hair curled and her eyeshadow blended. “Took you long enough,” Miranda says, echoing the thoughts of millions of fans. The original cast (Stanley Tucci returns!) and their accolades flash on the screen. The movie, The Devil Wears Prada 2, will be released, fittingly, on May 1, 2026, the month of the Met Gala. But something’s off.
Many of the current voices in fashion media studied The Devil Wears Prada like it was the Bible. It’s an iconic classic that exposes fashion’s glamour alongside its working conditions from Hell.
“I’m nervous you guys. The original is quite literally perfect,” a fan commented on Diet Prada’s Instagram announcement of the teaser.
Sequels usually face unrelenting pressure from the media, especially when their originals molded childhood dreams. After all, this is the fashion enthusiast’s Barbie; the 52-second clip garnered responses from emotional rants to anticapitalist critiques. The media’s scrutiny is almost as intense as Miranda’s.
Therein lies the hotly debated problem: Miranda, the dictator of taste, is wearing Valentino Rockstuds.
For context, at Valentino’s Fall/Winter 2010 collection, emphasis on 2010, Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri debuted the Rockstud pumps, heels embellished with pyramid studs in a subversive move for the brand. At the time, it was iconic. Fashion journalist Louis Pisano cites Alexa Chung, Reese Witherspoon and every fashion blogger in 2013 as evidence for the propagation of the Rockstud. He also says the shoes were irrelevant by 2016.
In other words, cynical fashion fanatics, journalists and fans believe that Miranda wouldn’t be caught dead in Rockstuds in 2026. The pumps aren’t old enough to pass as vintage, and they’re not countercultural enough to be innovative. It’s kind of like still using VSCO, or just now discovering matcha: it’s not a faux pas, but it’s not the pinnacle of forward-thinking that’s expected of Runway’s Editor-in-Chief.
Even Vogue had something to say, one writer questioning why Miranda would sport such a relic in the era of Alessandro Michele’s Valentino. The creative director’s granny pumps and theatrical influences are a far cry from the Rockstuds. Miranda would never be so out of alignment.
“Girl not miranda wearing valentino studded heels in this economy [sic] Diabolical,” one fan commented on Reddit.
Aside from her uncharacteristic, fictional fashion choice, Miranda’s accessory is more evidence of consumer culture than bad costume design. Women’s Wear Daily confirmed that the Valentino Rockstuds were a result of strategic product placement, a deal between 20th Century Studios and the formidable brand.
It’s clear that Valentino is capitalizing on an emotion that 2025 is constantly evoking: nostalgia. There’s no escaping the fierce legacy of Miranda Priestly, so why not make some money off this yearning for the early-2000s and 2010s, when life was good and we were watching The Devil Wears Prada? Everyone is talking about Valentino now, regurgitating old clips and reminiscing about the brand’s identifying shoe.
However, for some fans, the whole production is leaving a bitter taste. The 2006 Devil Wears Prada was never made for a reel; it wasn’t engineered for bite-sized pieces. It was an argument for the importance of fashion while acknowledging the industry’s dangerous pitfalls through an impeccable script and cast. Some fans even point out that, while they used to love the original, the teaser feels off-putting in this day and age.
“All I see is romanticisation of toxic work environments … Idk ‘took you long enough’ isn’t sitting right with me now that I am a 32 yr old woman,” another Reddit user commented.
For a movie that illustrates what it’s like to be a cog in the fashion industry’s machine, it’s unfortunate that its sequel is feeling like an attempt at foolproof relevancy and profitability. The discourse surrounding The Devil Wears Prada 2 seems to suggest that it’s not the right time to release a film that favors sponsors over style. Engagement is up, but something was lost.
Alexandria Fennell is a senior in the College of Human Ecology. She can be reached at acf65@cornell.edu.
