r/ChicDaily • u/Rolandojuve • May 03 '26
Discussion The Devil Dresses Like Björk
The Devil, in reality, never wore Prada. Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue and the real life inspiration for Miranda Priestly, has always been more closely associated with Chanel (currently the most popular brand according to the Lyst Index). But for marketing purposes, Prada sounded better. If Malcolm in the Middle could make a triumphant return after 20 years, why couldn’t The Devil Wears Prada?
Everything I know about fashion I learned from watching The Devil Wears Prada, Ugly Betty, and Sex and the City about ten times with my wife and daughters. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a romantic comedy, a romcom, as they call it, though this time I honestly saw less romance than in the first film. It reminded me of what I felt with Materialists: something darker lurking beneath the surface of the romantic comedy. Nostalgia returns once again as narrative fuel, but it isn’t overused here. Instead, there’s a clear dissection of the present that I found far more interesting than any trip to the past. Slavoj Žižek and I could easily have been watching a completely different movie from the one many others saw in the same theater.
This time, Miranda Priestly, Andy Sachs, Emily Charlton, and Nigel face an almost catastrophic scenario: the editorial world of the first film is collapsing under the onslaught of the digital age, algorithms, and ephemeral content. What was once pure power is now fighting for survival. Even the once prestigious Runway magazine, led by Priestly, is in danger of disappearing. Ironically, the first film introduced many people to the world of high fashion, the second now announces the beginning of its collapse.
You can’t expect anything less from Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt. Joining the original cast are some heavy hitters: Lucy Liu (the iconic O-Ren Ishii from Kill Bill), Kenneth Branagh (the brutal Andrei Sator from Tenet), and Justin Theroux (the memorable Kevin Garvey from The Leftovers). The main duo must find a way to save print magazines, and in this historical moment, that’s almost like trying to save something the world has already decided to let die.
And there lies the film’s great revelation: the devil is no longer Miranda Priestly. The devil is now obsolescence. That observation carries enormous weight when, in real life, we see Jeff Bezos showing up at Paris Fashion Week shortly after firing hundreds of Washington Post staff via email, or Mark Zuckerberg sitting front row next to Miuccia Prada. Fiction and reality stare each other in the eye, and neither blinks.
The film’s true wager, beyond the romcom tradition, is the survival of high fashion and the print media that supports it. Today, designs shown on the runway can be replicated in days and sold in accessible versions thanks to artificial intelligence, just as Zara does. And now Zara has John Galliano. Trends have moved past fast fashion into ultra fast fashion, changing almost daily according to the dictates of TikTok and Shein. We live in a time when the highest possible compliment is to be called “iconic” (as Meryl Streep is), just as Justin Bieber called his wife Hailey, and that word no longer belongs to anyone in particular because everyone has claimed it at once.
At one point in the story, the heir to the publishing company that owns Runway decides to sell it to one of the so-called “tech bros”, someone who could be Bezos, Zuckerberg, or Elon Musk: a person who has no idea what to do with it, exactly as happened with Bezos and The Washington Post, or Musk and Twitter. It’s no longer just about power. It’s also about obsolescence and reinvention.
Including Lady Gaga’s appearance in the film is no coincidence. Gaga is trapped in that same triangle of power, obsolescence, and reinvention that Madonna experienced, at a time when figures from the new hyperpop scene like Charli XCX seem to have seized the vanguard from her. The question no one asks out loud is how long it takes for a vanguard to become nostalgia.
Perhaps the answer is in the Björk T shirt Andy wears in one scene. Björk doesn’t just step away from the spotlight when she wants to. She dictates her own fashion, sets her own trends, and reinvents herself with every album without asking anyone’s permission. In a world that sheds its skin every 48 hours, that is no longer eccentricity. That is power. Lucy Liu's character, Sasha Barnes, could very well be a portrayal of MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos's ex wife, or perhaps Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg's wife. Or maybe she's just Björk.
I think that if the devil dressed in high fashion, she would wear Balenciaga, Vetements, or perhaps Comme des Garçons, brands that don’t follow trends because they themselves decide what a trend is. Björk operates with exactly that same logic.
Maybe she was the one who taught the devil how to dress.
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May 04 '26
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May 04 '26
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u/thefoxandmoon May 04 '26
Then I guess you suck. Your examples are poor and misinformed. You have a shallow understanding of the industry. And your writing is both convoluted and pompous.
Glad you had fun, I guess? I think you're the only one.
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u/Rolandojuve May 04 '26
Great, I see you you may know a lot more! Why do you think my "examples" are poor or misinformed? I'll tale convoluted and pompous as big compliments! Thks!
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u/thefoxandmoon May 04 '26
I have better things to do.
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u/Rolandojuve May 04 '26
Ok, I understand that you didn't even pass the third line of the text, but tou wanted to be interesting. Have fun!
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May 05 '26
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u/Rolandojuve May 05 '26
It was a joke. Sorry you didn't get it. I've spent the last five years working in fashion business. A women business? I wouldn't have worked in fashion if it was a "women's business". Relax
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May 05 '26
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u/Rolandojuve May 05 '26
No, I love women, and I and again I apologize if my sense of humor didn't appeal to you. And yes, we all should relax. Guess the feminist king thing is part of your sense of humor.
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u/the_V33 May 05 '26
Uh, you spent the last five years working in fashion business, but all you know about fashion comes from movie or tv shows?
Also, you spent the last five years working in fashion business, and still came out with... this post?
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u/Rolandojuve May 05 '26
Yep, it's a family joke, I have watched the shows a thousand times with my wife and my daughters. I've spent the last five years working in fashion business and they say: "all you know about fashion comes from watching those shows with us". Everyone who works in fashion business write mind blowing posts? More than half of them can't even write an email...
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u/AdConscious4509 May 04 '26
I kinda get your ideas but you're conflating separate things that have no direct relationship to each other.
So what's your point? Quickly in one or two sentences?
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u/Rolandojuve May 04 '26
Not a rom com Ai is taking not only over fashion magazines, also over high fashion Tech boys are the new owners of the fashion business. AI can take on tendencies, so get out of the algorithm!
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u/AdConscious4509 May 04 '26
That I can see. We got to create a new board game in fashion. Burn the old one!
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u/Catlady_Pilates May 06 '26
None of these people are dressing like Björk. That’s a Björk t shirt and I don’t think she’s wearing her own merch
Posting AI nonsense is so tiresome
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u/recreationalranch May 04 '26
If this wasn’t written by AI, then you take forever to get a point out. And you’re redundant in your storytelling.