Twenty years is a long time in the world of high fashion. Hemlines rise and fall, trends die and are reborn, and apparently, the razor-sharp bite of Runway magazine dulls just a teeny bit. Nearly two decades after the original film was released, The Devil Wears Prada 2 brings back Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci for another strut down the cinematic catwalk. But while the outfits are still undeniably fabulous, the magic of the original feels noticeably frayed at the seams. Fans hoping for a straight-up legacy style sequel may not be satisfied here, the filmmakers have clearly chosen to reinvent, rather than rehash old ground, however, this is abandoned after the first 30 minutes and the rest of the film caves into legacy sequel territory that may have just bitten off more than it could chew.
The film picks up in an unrecognisable media era from where we left. Traditional print is on life support, forcing a slightly “leashed” Miranda Priestly to fight to keep a dying Runway magazine relevant as she stares down making her next move in her career. Considering the first film was released one year before the first iPhone was, it is fair to say that a lot has changed since we were last here. Meanwhile, her former assistants have carved out formidable paths of their own. Emily Charlton has risen to the top of a powerful luxury empire over at Dior, and Andy Sachs is now an established, award-winning journalist who just very publicly lost her job. When the shifting tectonic plates of high fashion force Andy back into Miranda’s orbit to help salvage the magazine, the stage is set for a clash of ideals. It’s a promising premise that taps into the harsh realities of modern publishing, but unfortunately, the execution stumbles.
The biggest issue with The Devil Wears Prada 2 is that it fundamentally fails to work as a direct sequel or a true continuation of the story we loved. Instead of a natural progression of these iconic characters’ lives, it feels like we are watching entirely different people who just happen to live in the exact same universe, twenty years later. There is no need for all four of them be on the screen at the same time apart from a good old microdose of nostalgia, and with a cheap cash grab sequel, I could have accepted this, but it feels almost at odds to offer this up here.
The genuine emotional attachment and character growth we experienced in the first film are glaringly absent here. Andy’s journey from a wide-eyed outsider to a principled writer is awkwardly glossed over to justify getting her back under Miranda’s thumb. Why does this character still want Miranda’s seal of approval 20 years later after everything that she has accomplished? Why would she help Miranda do this after everything she put her and the rest of the interns through over the years. It all feels a bit hollow, sacrificing character logic and the hard-earned lessons of the 2006 film for the sake of getting the band back together.
Rather than carving out a fresh identity or giving us new, biting dialogue, the script relies heavily on the nostalgia trap. There is no shortage of requoted one-liners desperately trying to remind you of how good the first film was. “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking” might have been a cultural reset twenty years ago, but winking at the audience with non-stop callbacks in 2026 feels more like a cheap knock-off than haute couture. Sure, some things have changed, Miranda has to hang up her own coat now, she has a HR rep follow her to meetings to interject when she falls back into her traditional ways, but we have seen this before with characters trying to make it work in the 2020’s and it didn’t do enough to justify its existence here.
The performances from Streep, Hathaway, and Blunt are reliably solid, they could easily play these roles in their sleep at this point, with Blunt clearly having a blast barking orders in Italian, (including a hilarious argument with Donatella Versace that showed just how much fun the actors and fashion industry were willing to have with this sequel), but they simply aren’t given enough fresh material to make this outing feel entirely necessary. Sure it’s nice to see the “core four” back on screen together, but a little more justification would have gone a long way. The rest of the fashion industry showed up this time around, most importantly Lady Gaga pulling double duty as a fashion icon and pop star who has one of the most memorable scenes in the film with Streep and a performance that lifts the story just as it’s getting a little too serious.
It is always fun to see these titans share the screen, and the costume department deserves every accolade coming its way. However, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a classic case of style over substance. It’s a breezy, passable reunion that trades genuine storytelling and emotional connection for hollow callbacks and recycled jokes that don’t do enough to justify its existence. Sure the film attempts to have a lot to say about the state of journalism and the impending death of the print media industry, but it doesn’t do enough to justify making these statements and the potential future of both.
