Country US, UK, France Pages 360 Originally published 15 April 2003 | ISBN 0-7679-1476-7 Page count 360 | |
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Cover artist Evan Gaffney (design)Nick Dewar (illustration) Adaptations The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Characters Miranda Priestly, Andrea Sachs, Emily Charlton Similar Lauren Weisberger books, Chick lit books, Other books | ||
The Devil Wears Prada (2003) is a best-selling novel by Lauren Weisberger about a young woman who is hired as a personal assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor, a job that becomes nightmarish as she struggles to keep up with her boss's grueling schedule and demeaning demands. It spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list and became the basis for the 2006 film of the same name, starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt. The novel is considered by many to be an example of the "chick lit" genre.
Contents
- Plot summary
- Characters
- Conception
- Commercial and critical reception
- Film adaptation
- Sequel
- Musical
- References
The book's sequel, titled Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, was published on June 4, 2013.
Plot summary
Andrea Sachs, a recent graduate of Brown University with a degree in English, moves to New York City with her best friend, Lily, a graduate student at Columbia. Andrea hopes to find a career in publishing and blankets the city with her résumé. She believes she'll be closer to her dream of working for The New Yorker if she can get a job in the magazine industry. She gets a surprise interview at the Elias-Clark Group and is hired as junior assistant for Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Runway. Although she knows little of the fashion world, everyone tells her that "a million girls would die for [her] job". If she manages to work for Miranda for a year, people tell her, she can have her choice of jobs within the magazine industry.
At a celebrity party, Andrea meets Christian Collinsworth, a charismatic Yale graduate who is considered one of the hot, new up-and-coming writers of their generation. They are attracted to each other, which complicates her relationship with her boyfriend, Alex.
Andrea's relationships become entangled because of her new job. Lily increasingly turns to alcohol and picks up dubious men to relieve the pressure of graduate school. Alex, struggling with his own demanding job as an inner-city schoolteacher, grows frustrated with Andrea's long hours and constant stress. Andrea's relationship with her family also suffers. Matters finally come to a head when her co-worker, Emily, gets mononucleosis and Andrea must travel to Paris with Miranda in her stead. In Paris, she has a surprise encounter with Christian. Later that night, Miranda finally lets down her guard and asks Andrea what she has learned, and where she wants to work afterwards. She promises to place phone calls to people she knows at the New Yorker on Andrea's behalf once her year is up and suggests she take on some small writing assignments at Runway.
Back at the hotel, Andrea gets urgent calls from Alex and her parents asking her to call them. She does and learns that Lily is comatose after driving drunk and wrecking a car. Though her family and Alex pressure her to return home, she tells Miranda she will honor her commitment to Runway. Miranda is pleased, and says her future in magazine publishing is bright, but phones with another impossible demand at Christian Dior's Paris fashion show. Andrea decides that her family and friends are more important than her job, and realizes to her horror that she is becoming more and more like Miranda. She refuses to comply with Miranda's latest outrageous request, and when Miranda scolds her publicly, Andrea replies, "Fuck you, Miranda. Fuck you." She is fired on the spot, and returns home to reconnect with friends and family. Her romantic relationship with Alex is beyond repair, but they remain friends. Lily recovers and is lucky to receive only community service for her DUI charge.
In the last chapter Andrea learns her dispute with Miranda made her a minor celebrity when the incident made "Page Six". Afraid she has been blacklisted from publishing for good, she moves back with her parents. She works on short fiction and finances her unemployment with profits made from reselling the designer clothing she was provided for her Paris trip. Seventeen buys one of her stories. At the novel's end, she returns to the Elias-Clark building to discuss a position at one of the company's other magazines and sees Miranda's new junior assistant, who looks as harried and put-upon as she once did.
Characters
Conception
Weisberger stated in publicity materials that Priestly's demands are partial fiction and a composite of actual experiences she and her friends had in their first jobs. Some reviewers state that Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, was the inspiration for Priestly.
Commercial and critical reception
Kate Betts, a former editor of Harper's Bazaar who also worked for Wintour at one point in her career, spared no barb in the Times Book Review, stressing the main character's ingratitude at the unique opportunity of working at Vogue: "[I]f Andrea doesn't ever realize why she should care about Miranda Priestly, why should we care about Andrea, or prize the text for anything more than the cheap frisson of the context?" Janet Maslin, in the daily paper, joined in: "a mean-spirited Gotcha! of a book, one that offers little indication that the author could interestingly sustain a gossip-free narrative ...".
Maslin avoided naming either the magazine where Weisberger actually worked or the woman she allegedly modeled her main character on. The Times continued this practice when the film was released.
Critics who favored the book admitted it had problems, as any first novel might, but praised it as a "fun, frivolous read".
No Condé Nast Publications reviewed or otherwise mentioned The Devil Wears Prada.
Film adaptation
The film version was released on June 30, 2006 by 20th Century Fox. It was produced by Wendy Finerman (Forrest Gump), freely adapted for the screen by Aline Brosh McKenna and directed by David Frankel. Anne Hathaway played Andrea, Meryl Streep earned critical praise, a win for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination as Miranda, and Emily Blunt played Emily.
Production took place during fall 2005, on location in New York and Paris. Weisberger herself made a very brief non-speaking cameo appearance as the twins' nanny.
It was very successful, taking in over $300 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film for both lead actresses up to that date. In September, Weisberger and Frankel jointly accepted the first-ever Quill Variety Blockbuster Book to Film Award.
Sequel
The book's sequel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, is set a decade after the events of the first novel. In it, Andy is the editor for a new bridal magazine. But as she plans her own wedding, she remains haunted by her experience with Miranda until the two meet again.
Kate Erbland from MSN.com called the story disconcerting, saying, "Readers who have warm and fuzzy memories of indefatigable Andy might not be so inclined to pick it up."
Musical
In 2015, it was reported that Broadway producer Kevin McCollum (who has previously produced the musicals Rent and Avenue Q amongst others) had signed a deal two years earlier with Fox to develop some of the movies from its back catalog into musicals for the stage. He expressed particular interest in Mrs. Doubtfire and The Devil Wears Prada. On 26th January 2017, it was officially announced by McCollum that in partnership with Fox Stage Productions and Rocket Entertainment, a musical version of The Devil Wears Prada (influenced by both the movie and the book) would be produced. Sir Elton John (who also wrote the scores for Billy Elliot and the The Lion King amongst others) was announced as the composer for the project and Paul Rudnick (most notable for writing the movie Sister Act) would write the lyrics and story. The casting and production schedule is still to be announced but it is aimed to play on Broadway.