Vogue resurrects the devil wears prada ahead of sequel drop
Miranda Priestly is back on the syllabus. Vogue Book Club will dissect Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 fashion-industry takedown for the next six weeks, timing the finale to the May premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Why reread a 21-year-old beach read?
Because the magazine that inspired the fictional Runway now wants to own the narrative. After January’s Wuthering Heights experiment drew half a million in-app comments, Condé Nast’s data team green-lit a sequel of its own: weaponize nostalgia ahead of the theatrical sequel. The calculus is brutal—if TikTok can resuscitate chunky heels, Vogue can resell its mythology.
Starting Thursday, subscribers get weekly annotations from editors who survived the Anna era, plus leaked memos from the original film’s costume department. The kicker: a live-chat cameo from the still-unnamed former assistant whose memoir lit the fuse.
Weisberger, long past apologizing for her roman-à-clef, will appear on the app April 23. Expect no mea culpas; she’s already teased fresh dirt about a “current European glossy editrix” in the preface to the book’s new paperback. Translation: the gloves are off, and the scarves are Hermès.
Reading list as ratings grab
Media watchers call the move a blueprint for legacy titles chasing streaming tailwinds. By tethering literary cachet to box-office calendars, Vogue converts passive movie hype into active engagement minutes—metrics that advertisers prefer over stale circulation figures. The first club drove app downloads up 34 percent; Condé’s board is betting the sequel doubles that before Memorial Day.
Meanwhile, booksellers smell blood. Barnes & Noble has stacked devil-red table displays near checkout, slashing 30 percent off the trade edition. Indie stores are less thrilled; one Brooklyn owner sighed, “We’re restocking a title we never stopped selling. Vogue just put a bow on it.”
The real twist arrives in May when the cinematic sequel drops—likely igniting another news cycle just as the club wraps. Weisberger gets royalties twice: once for the reprint, again for the attention. Miranda would approve.