Nearly twenty years after viewers first saw Andy Sachs stumbling in the glossy, intimidating corridors of Runway magazine, Anne Hathaway is returning to those desirable heels. The long-awaited sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2, has been generating a lot of buzz and during the recent European premiere of The Devil Wears Prada in London, Hathaway provided fans with a uncommon and slightly bitter, behind-the-scenes look. Although the premiere was a triumphant return of the favorite standby assistant of Miranda Priestly, the actor also had something to lament personally: her absolute favorite costume of the new film never made it to the editing room floor.
Speaking frankly and with a hint of nostalgia, Hathaway told us that it was not just any outfit, but one that she had genuinely grown attached to in the course of production. She referred to it and her ensemble in detail, calling it a Phoebe Philo T-shirt, train thing. When the author mentions Phoebe Philo, a designer with her cult following and highly intellectual, minimalistic style, one will instantly know that something high yet low-key cool is about to be mentioned. Hathaway would later say why the look resonated so much with her saying, “I don’t know, it was a garment, more than anything else. But I loved it so much. It is a familiar confession to any woman who has ever felt in love with a piece of clothing that cannot be easily described; sometimes a shirt feels more than a piece of fabric, it possesses a certain energy that makes it make it special.
What is so human about this revelation is the fact that Hathaway discovered how the scene had been cut out. She narrated a face-to-face meeting with the director David Frankel, who was the one to personally convey the bad news. He called me… and he goes, It’s gone,’ Hathaway recalled. It is easy to imagine the combination of emotions in that phone call–the professional sense of editing being a ruthless craft, combined with the personal heartbreak of losing a moment you believed in. Fortunately, costume design and behind-the-scenes information enthusiasts will have an opportunity to see Hathaway in the costume back in July 2025 as they were shooting the movie in New York City. Images taken depicted a striking appearance: crisp white T-shirt with an unexpected running train, combined with white cropped pants, matching pointed shoes, dark sunglasses, and bold statement accessories. In photographs, the outfit gives the impression of a character who has become more at ease with herself and no longer strives as hard to impress but rather pleases herself.
Other than the clothing disappointment, the London premiere was a time when Hathaway could take a moment and contemplate something far much more important; time. She opened up on how she, as an actor and Andy Sachs, as a character has developed since the release of the original film in 2006. In the first film, Andy is a fresh faced earnest journalist who initially looks down on the superficiality of fashion and then gets engulfed by fashion demands. She comes to know how to manage a wardrobe, how to put up with the caprice of Miranda, how to sacrifice the personal relations with others to gain professional benefits. It was a tale of growing up, but in the form of designer handbags and scornful looks. But that Andy, too, was uncertain, and inclined to please and often overwhelmed.
Twenty years on, the Andy of the sequel must be somehow different. Hathaway alluded that this new chapter is about what it feels like to have boundaries and reclaim her own story. The actor has also said that her own life experiences which have also made her become a mother, maneuver through the long arc of Hollywood and gain the wisdom that only comes with age have informed how she now plays the role. Something about a performer reprising a signature role in their youth seems quiet power to me; it lays something lived over the top of the performance. You are not merely watching Andy Sachs sail through another media crisis, high stakes. You are witnessing a quiet authority of a role she helped shape being played by a woman who grew up in the spotlight.
The Devil Wears Prada is a cultural artifact that has struck the right chord of biting workplace satire and heart because it has achieved the right balance of the first and the second in its content and message delivery. It posed uncomfortable questions on the extent of yourself that you are prepared to give in order to be successful. The sequel, or, at least, according to the comments of Hathaway, seems to be set to pose the logical follow-up: you have climbed the mountain, so what is next? In the case of Andy, it appears to have to do with a more integrated life, one where a favorite outfit does not involve trying to prove your fashion credentials but rather the simple, personal joy of one having something to wear that they love–even though the rest of the world will never have the pleasure of seeing that same outfit on the screen.
Naturally, the fact that the favorite scene of Hathaway is removed, leads to a more extensive discussion of the essence of filmmaking. Directors and editors make tough decisions in the service of pacing, narrative flow and runtime. What an actor cherishes may not be what works to the final narrative. However, such sliced moments can come to be mythic among the fanbase, they become trivia that humanizes the final product that was polished. The lost Phoebe Philo piece that has now become an object of paparazzi photographs and that is in the memory of Hathaway giving it almost mythic, almost romantic status.
