Image: 20th Century Fox
With The Devil Wears Prada 2 hitting the big screen this year, it’s got us watching the original movie all over and again. It’s safe to say, it’s just as perfect 20 years on. The lore around the story, based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger, is well documented and discussed.
The author was famously the former assistant to the real-life editor-in-chief of Vogue US, Anna Wintour, so the insatiable question of ‘Just how accurate is the movie really?’ undoubtedly fuels the success of the story. Here, we take a look at the Devil Wears Prada sets and characters, and sort the fact from fiction – with some choice quips from Anna herself.
Fact or fiction: The Devil Wears Prada magazine offices
The story is set in New York City, in the fictional Runway magazine offices filled with ‘the clackers’, as Andy calls them. It is, of course, based on Vogue’s hallowed halls and the ultra fashionable, possibly high-heeled staff who work there. With much of the movie taking place in the office of editor-in-chief Miranda Priestley and the adjoining desks of her two assistants, it’s hard not to wonder what the actual offices are really like.
Turns out, the movie was uncannily accurate. So much so, that Anna Wintour reportedly had her entire office made over after the first movie came out. From the placement and design of the table, to the bunches of flowers placed ‘just so’ to the side, the set designer got it eerily on point.
Director David Frankel let slip that the set designer Jess Gonchor may have snuck into Vogue at Condé Nast to get a peek at Anna’s workspace, along with studying images of Anna at her desk. Her daughter Bee reportedly whispered, “They got that right,” to her during a screening.
Thoughts on the creepy accuracy of her desk set-up aside, Anna agreed with the depiction of the office environment as a serious business. “It’s a true economic force globally, and the first film acknowledged that,” she has said.
Anna Wintour’s house verse Miranda Priestley’s house
It’s a memorable moment when Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) enters Miranda Priestley’s home for the first time to deliver ‘The Book’. With many an Upper East Side mansion to choose from, the film set was, in fact, a real townhouse on 73rd St in New York, which last sold for $US26.5 million in 2023. Complete with the grand entrance and curving staircase, it’s a home fit for the fashion elite.
Just like in the movie, Anna Wintour owns a similarly glamorous home in New York’s posh Manhattan. It’s a four-storey townhouse, which she bought for $US11.5 million in 1992. She also owns a country home in Long Island. Her two main residences are known to appear on the official Instagram account dedicated to Anna’s dogs, believe it or not.
How accurate are the characters in The Devil Wears Prada?
It’s no secret that the head of Runway magazine, Miranda Priestley, is based on the former editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour. In a recent podcast episode, Vogue editor Chloe Malle sat down with successful fashion stylist, Leslie Fremar, who the real-life first assistant is believed to be based on. No longer fetching coffees, Leslie is now booked and busy, dressing the likes of Charlize Theron and Hailey Bieber for fashion campaigns and promotional tours. It’s just what the Paris-obsessed, one-cube-of-cheese-eating character Emily (played by Emily Blunt) would have always dreamed of.
All these years on, there’s no doubt in Leslie’s mind that Emily is based on her. When asked if she feels confident she’s the real Emily, Leslie tells current Vogue editor Chloe, “I know I am, yes.” The stylist goes on to tell Chloe that when the book first came out she got a call from Anna’s office saying she wanted to see her. “I was petrified,” Leslie recalls of being summoned by the editor, who asked, “Who’s Lauren Weisberger?” When Anna was informed that the author was her former junior assistant, Leslie says she replied, “Well, she wrote a book about us and you’re worse than me.”
As for how accurate the characters are? It’s safe to say they very much drew from real-life conversations and experiences the author had in her role as junior assistant in the Vogue offices. “I definitely told her ‘A million girls would kill for this job,’” Leslie confirms of the line that’s become iconic.
Anna Wintour’s thoughts on the Devil Wears Prada sets
As for Anna, who is now Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast and Global Editorial Director of Vogue, the savvy businesswoman has thrown her support behind the highly popular satirical Hollywood franchise. Even before seeing the first movie, she wore Prada to the premiere in New York. Later, she described it as “highly enjoyable”, and owned the fact that the icy Miranda is based on her, saying it’s “such an honour to be played by Meryl”.
With the release of the sequel, Vogue has gone one step further in embracing the fictional versions of their day-to-day operations. The May 2026 issue saw Anna Wintour pictured with Meryl Streep in a tongue-in-cheek image on the cover, shot by Annie Leibovitz.
For the second movie, Anna even volunteered her opinion on the sets – and of course, she had notes. In an interview with writer Amy Odell, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna and director David revealed the muse of the movie told them they had the colour and number of flowers on set all wrong.
“It was in the Dior set,” explains screenwriter Aline of her interaction with Anna while filming The Devil Wears Prada 2. “She was standing by the monitor with me and she said, ‘There are too many flowers.’” Not only that, Anna declared that white flowers only would do in a Dior meeting. “So I came running out and was like, ‘Dude, kill the flowers,’” says Aline. In the end, one vase of white flowers made the final cut, just as Anna wanted.
