The Shocking True Story Behind The Devil Wears Prada
advertisement
VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Savannah Sher
The true story behind The Devil Wears Prada will shock you..
While some will gladly claim that this popular film is based on a true story, the real history behind it isn’t that simple. Welcome to MsMojo, and this is The True Story Behind The Devil Wears Prada.
While we’re going to do a deep dive into how much truth is behind the story we saw on the screen in “The Devil Wears Prada”, one thing we know for sure is that it was adapted from a novel by writer Lauren Weisberger. It was Weisberger’s first novel and the story was a simple one: a young girl without any interest in fashion finds herself being hired to work at a major fashion magazine. Her job is as an assistant to the magazine’s editor in chief, who quickly begins to make her life a living hell. The book was released in 2003, but even before it had made its way onto bookstore shelves, there were discussions of film rights.
In fact, movie execs were bidding on the project before Weisberger was even done writing it. They only saw an outline and the first 100 pages of the novel but it was enough to convince them that there was something special there. Carla Hacken, who at the time, was the executive vice president of Fox 2000, says she was the first to read the story at Fox. She was immediately sold, saying, “I thought Miranda Priestly was one of the greatest villains ever. I remember we aggressively went in and scooped it up.”
But what made the book even more enticing was one simple fact: there was evidence that the story wasn’t a total work of fiction because Lauren Weisberger had actually worked at Vogue herself. Not only that, but she had worked as an assistant to the famously icy editor in chief, Anna Wintour. It was a job she held for just under a year. With this titillating backstory, who could resist? The parallels from the story to real life are hard to ignore. Wintour is British, running an American magazine, and so was Miranda Priestly. The fictional magazine “Runway” is an obvious stand-in for Vogue.
Lauren Weisberger left Vogue to work for another magazine, writing about travel. In the evenings, she signed up for a writing course, and began documenting her experiences at Vogue since it was such a remarkable time in her life. Her intention had never been to write a novel, but once the idea took off, the rest was history. She said, “When it was published, people kept saying "It's so brave of you to write this", but it wasn't bravery - it was stupidity and complete naivety. I didn't think anyone would read it, let alone have an opinion on it.”
No one was as surprised by the success of the book or the film as the book’s author. She said, “I was just excited that someone wanted to publish the book and that I could tell my family they could actually buy it in a store. But for it to sell and have it made into a film, too, was a complete whirlwind for which I wasn't prepared.”
When the novel was eventually released, at the beginning of 2003, it became an instant hit, spending six months on the New York Times bestseller list. While at first, the screenwriters tried to do a direct and faithful adaptation of Weisberger’s story, they eventually deviated more from the plot, especially the ending. The initial scripts were more satirical in nature, even taking inspiration from the 2001 comedy “Zoolander”, which lambasts the fashion industry in all its over the top glory.
For a long time, Weisberger was wary of sharing much about her time at Vogue, and was quiet about the parallels between real life and the story that made her famous. Her dialog on the topic always seems cautious, though she will reveal small snippets of truth in interviews from time to time. She said, to the Daily Mail, “It wasn't a one-to-one portrayal [of Wintour]. But of course my time at Vogue informed the book, there's no denying that.” In the same interview, she mentioned that Wintour seemed particularly disdainful of her practical footwear, saying of her sturdy platform boots, “She would stare at them in disgust and it was a stare that conveyed her displeasure pretty clearly.”
The movie tackles the unrealistic body standards that the fashion industry pushes head on, like in scenes where Andy is mocked for being a size six, and celebrated when she gets down to a coveted four. Weisberger has said, of her own experience at Vogue, “I knew I was tall and thin, but I was short and fat there.”
When the film was released, reactions in the fashion industry varied quite a bit, with some commending the movie for accurately depicting aspects of the sartorial world, and others saying that it didn’t actually reflect any reality. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Booth Moore called it a "fine fashion fantasy with little to do with reality”, adding that any insider would know that this was just the imagining of an outsider. But Liz Jones, who had worked as the editor of the British version of Marie Claire, saw much that was familiar in the movie. She called it, “a chilling reminder of the most surreal three years of my life” and added that she even sympathized with the villainous Miranda, seeing bits of herself in her.
Weisberger claims that she never heard anything from Anna Wintour or Condé Nast, the company that publishes Vogue, after her book was published. Despite the fact that the novel was being talked about everywhere, it was not discussed or mentioned in any Condé Nast publication at the time.
In a move that raised eyebrows however, Anna Wintour herself attended the New York premiere of the film in June of 2006. Not only that, but she wore Prada to the event. While one of her friends said that Wintour thought the movie would go straight to DVD, Wintour herself has always been polite when being asked about the movie. She said, "Anything that makes fashion entertaining and glamorous and interesting is wonderful for our industry. So I was 100 percent behind it.” The reality is, the story got Wintour’s name in the headlines, which certainly couldn’t be bad for business.
Interestingly, three years after the movie was released, Wintour was the star of her own film, one in which she had a little more creative control over her image. “The September Issue” was released in 2009 and gave fashion fiends a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of Vogue. It’s a documentary that follows Wintour and the rest of the Vogue staff throughout the creation of their biggest issue of the year, and portrays Wintour in a positive light.
While we’re going to do a deep dive into how much truth is behind the story we saw on the screen in “The Devil Wears Prada”, one thing we know for sure is that it was adapted from a novel by writer Lauren Weisberger. It was Weisberger’s first novel and the story was a simple one: a young girl without any interest in fashion finds herself being hired to work at a major fashion magazine. Her job is as an assistant to the magazine’s editor in chief, who quickly begins to make her life a living hell. The book was released in 2003, but even before it had made its way onto bookstore shelves, there were discussions of film rights.
In fact, movie execs were bidding on the project before Weisberger was even done writing it. They only saw an outline and the first 100 pages of the novel but it was enough to convince them that there was something special there. Carla Hacken, who at the time, was the executive vice president of Fox 2000, says she was the first to read the story at Fox. She was immediately sold, saying, “I thought Miranda Priestly was one of the greatest villains ever. I remember we aggressively went in and scooped it up.”
But what made the book even more enticing was one simple fact: there was evidence that the story wasn’t a total work of fiction because Lauren Weisberger had actually worked at Vogue herself. Not only that, but she had worked as an assistant to the famously icy editor in chief, Anna Wintour. It was a job she held for just under a year. With this titillating backstory, who could resist? The parallels from the story to real life are hard to ignore. Wintour is British, running an American magazine, and so was Miranda Priestly. The fictional magazine “Runway” is an obvious stand-in for Vogue.
Lauren Weisberger left Vogue to work for another magazine, writing about travel. In the evenings, she signed up for a writing course, and began documenting her experiences at Vogue since it was such a remarkable time in her life. Her intention had never been to write a novel, but once the idea took off, the rest was history. She said, “When it was published, people kept saying "It's so brave of you to write this", but it wasn't bravery - it was stupidity and complete naivety. I didn't think anyone would read it, let alone have an opinion on it.”
No one was as surprised by the success of the book or the film as the book’s author. She said, “I was just excited that someone wanted to publish the book and that I could tell my family they could actually buy it in a store. But for it to sell and have it made into a film, too, was a complete whirlwind for which I wasn't prepared.”
When the novel was eventually released, at the beginning of 2003, it became an instant hit, spending six months on the New York Times bestseller list. While at first, the screenwriters tried to do a direct and faithful adaptation of Weisberger’s story, they eventually deviated more from the plot, especially the ending. The initial scripts were more satirical in nature, even taking inspiration from the 2001 comedy “Zoolander”, which lambasts the fashion industry in all its over the top glory.
For a long time, Weisberger was wary of sharing much about her time at Vogue, and was quiet about the parallels between real life and the story that made her famous. Her dialog on the topic always seems cautious, though she will reveal small snippets of truth in interviews from time to time. She said, to the Daily Mail, “It wasn't a one-to-one portrayal [of Wintour]. But of course my time at Vogue informed the book, there's no denying that.” In the same interview, she mentioned that Wintour seemed particularly disdainful of her practical footwear, saying of her sturdy platform boots, “She would stare at them in disgust and it was a stare that conveyed her displeasure pretty clearly.”
The movie tackles the unrealistic body standards that the fashion industry pushes head on, like in scenes where Andy is mocked for being a size six, and celebrated when she gets down to a coveted four. Weisberger has said, of her own experience at Vogue, “I knew I was tall and thin, but I was short and fat there.”
When the film was released, reactions in the fashion industry varied quite a bit, with some commending the movie for accurately depicting aspects of the sartorial world, and others saying that it didn’t actually reflect any reality. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Booth Moore called it a "fine fashion fantasy with little to do with reality”, adding that any insider would know that this was just the imagining of an outsider. But Liz Jones, who had worked as the editor of the British version of Marie Claire, saw much that was familiar in the movie. She called it, “a chilling reminder of the most surreal three years of my life” and added that she even sympathized with the villainous Miranda, seeing bits of herself in her.
Weisberger claims that she never heard anything from Anna Wintour or Condé Nast, the company that publishes Vogue, after her book was published. Despite the fact that the novel was being talked about everywhere, it was not discussed or mentioned in any Condé Nast publication at the time.
In a move that raised eyebrows however, Anna Wintour herself attended the New York premiere of the film in June of 2006. Not only that, but she wore Prada to the event. While one of her friends said that Wintour thought the movie would go straight to DVD, Wintour herself has always been polite when being asked about the movie. She said, "Anything that makes fashion entertaining and glamorous and interesting is wonderful for our industry. So I was 100 percent behind it.” The reality is, the story got Wintour’s name in the headlines, which certainly couldn’t be bad for business.
Interestingly, three years after the movie was released, Wintour was the star of her own film, one in which she had a little more creative control over her image. “The September Issue” was released in 2009 and gave fashion fiends a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of Vogue. It’s a documentary that follows Wintour and the rest of the Vogue staff throughout the creation of their biggest issue of the year, and portrays Wintour in a positive light.
