The Devil Wears Prada, Too | Defector

""So much of the book is composed of stories from my friends," she told Publishers Weekly at the time. "A lot of my girlfriends ended up in publishing and in magazines, or doing fashion PR or advertising. Horror stories are the same the world over.""

"Weisberger's horror stories took place at Vogue, under the watchful eye of then-Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, who was widely considered to be the basis for the fictional tyrant Miranda Priestly of Runway magazine. In the years since, the book, the film, a musical, and the film sequel have become a cultural phenomenon that far outpaced any initial media gossip about its publication-to the point that over the past few weeks, surrounding the May 1 premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Vogue itself has published dozens of stories pegged to it."

"At the time, Wintour's party line regarding the book was carefully practiced in its casualness. A piece by David Carr for The New York Times, in which he outlined the moves she had made to keep Vogue ahead of the pack in terms of relevancy-which notably included putting celebrities on the cover at a time when models were the go-to-ends with this vignette: "Sitting in her office with a latte off her elbow, Ms. Wintour smiled demurely when the book was mentioned.""

"''I always enjoy a great piece of fiction,'' she said with a wan smile. ''I haven't decided whether I am going to read it or not.'' The assumption then was that Wintour was not pleased about the book, though Amy Odell, who wrote a biography on her, has since argued that she didn't care."

The book’s stories were drawn from friends working in publishing, magazines, fashion PR, and advertising, reflecting common “horror stories” across the industry. The setting included experiences at Vogue under Anna Wintour’s leadership, widely seen as the real-life basis for the fictional Miranda Priestly. Over time, the book, film, musical, and sequel became a major cultural phenomenon, prompting Vogue to publish many related stories around the May 1 premiere of the sequel. This later embrace contrasts with the initial response in 2003, when Wintour’s public posture was carefully casual and suggested she might not read the book, despite later claims that she did not actually care.

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