Anna Wintour Gives Honest Opinion of 'The Devil Wears Prada'

Anna Wintour delivered her honest verdict on The Devil Wears Prada while weighing in on comparisons to Meryl Streep’s demanding fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly.

“I think, listen, it had a lot of humor to it. It had a lot of wit to it,” Wintour, 75, revealed on The New Yorker Radio Hour on Tuesday, September 9. “It had Meryl Streep. I mean, it was Emily Blunt. They were all amazing. In the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”

There have been endless theories ever since the publication of author Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 Devil Wears Prada novel that Miranda Priestly was a thinly veiled caricature of her former Vogue boss, since she worked as Wintour’s assistant at the magazine for 10 months between 1999 and 2000. Weisberger, 48, has always denied directly basing Priestly on Wintour, insisting instead that the character was a composite of real fashion industry figures and entirely fictional details.

Nevertheless, fans and the media have continued to draw comparisons between Priestly and Wintour. During her interview this week, Wintour suggested that she was caught completely unaware of the comparisons when she first saw The Devil Wears Prada.

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“Well, I went to the premiere wearing Prada completely having no idea what the film was going to be about,” she recalled. “I think that the fashion industry [was] very sweetly concerned for me about the film, that it was going to paint me in some kind of difficult light … [like] a caricature. But, first of all, it was Meryl Streep, which [was] fantastic. Then, I went to see the film and I found it highly enjoyable and very funny.”

Wintour said she’d come to embrace the public linking her with Miranda Priestly regardless of whether it was intended. She even admitted that The Devil Wears Prada has become a running joke between herself and Prada design chief Miuccia Prada.

“Miuccia and I talk about it a lot,” Wintour revealed with a smile. “I say to her, ‘I was really good for you.’ And you can imagine what she says back!”

Wintour and Streep memorably addressed the comparisons in a 2017 interview for Vogue. When Wintour asked the three-time Oscar winner about “the most challenging woman” she’d ever played, Streep couldn’t resist a joke.

“Oh, I should say you,” Streep, 76, answered with a giggle, before Wintour shot back, “No, no, we’re not going there, Meryl!”

The legendary actress then clarified her answer by insisting to a chuckling Wintour that Miranda Priestly “wasn’t [difficult] anyway,” adding, “That was fun!”

Wintour announced in June that she was stepping down as Vogue’s editor in chief, though she plans to stay on as Vogue’s global editor and Condé Nast’s global chief content officer. On September 2, Wintour confirmed that Chloe Malle will be her replacement.

“Fashion and media are both evolving at breakneck speed, and I am so thrilled — and awed — to be part of that,” Malle, 39, said in a statement on September 2. “I also feel incredibly fortunate to still have Anna just down the hall as my mentor.”

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Meanwhile, Streep has been on location in New York City throughout the summer filming the long-awaited sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2. Streep reprises her role as Miranda Priestly alongside Anne Hathaway as Miranda’s former protégé Andy Sachs and Emily Blunt as Emily Charlton.

Kenneth Branagh recently joined the sequel cast as Miranda’s third husband, while other newcomers include Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux and Patrick Brammall as Andy’s new boyfriend. Original director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna are both back as well for the adaptation of Weisberger’s 2013 novel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 will be released May 1, 2026.