Monday, September 18, 2023

'The Devil Wears Prada' cerulean sweater speech still lives in my head rent free


When I decided to have a fashion-themed week and write about "The Devil Wears Prada," the first thing that came to mind was Miranda Priestly's (Meryl Streep) iconic cerulean sweater speech, shown in the video above.

Even 17 years after the release of "The Devil Wears Prada," the scene sticks out to me. And I'm not alone in my interest: the speech has its own dedicated section on the movie's Wikipedia page with a range of article references from both journalists and people within the fashion industry.

While the movie's reference to specific collections that popularized the use of cerulean are entirely fictional, the concept stands: in some cases, there's a trickle-down effect in regard to high fashion eventually making its way to everyday fashion.

For example, The New York Times' chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman cited the speech and pointed out that "what might appear on a runway in the Musée Rodin (where Dior holds its shows) in July will affect what H&M does in August."

There are cases where the reverse is true, like designers being inspired by streetwear and the "trickle-up" effect of small brands becoming so popular they're no longer affordable for their original customer base.

Even still, the scene is so memorable because it's an epic takedown that forces Andy (Anne Hathaway) to rethink her perspective on fashion and why the industry is so particular in its choices. And let's be honest, we all love a good dragging every now and then.

It's also fun for the sake of character development to watch prickly characters having scenes like the cerulean sweater speech contrasted with their softer scenes.

Watching Miranda go from the cerulean sweater scene to her more vulnerable scene describing her divorce and then seeing the final scene where she smiles to herself after seeing Andy showcases different sides to the character.

One way or another, the cerulean sweater scene lives rent-free in my mind to this day.

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