It has been nearly a quarter-century since Arts & Sciences alum Lauren Weisberger ’99 wrote The Devil Wears Prada—a novel, published when Weisberger was just 26, that became not merely a bestseller but a cultural sensation.
The 2003 tale chronicles the personal and professional travails of aspiring journalist Andy Sachs, who unexpectedly lands a job as the latest in a long line of beleaguered assistants to Miranda Priestly—the tyrannical editor of the fictional Runway magazine, a figure who’s both feared and revered.
Weisberger, who majored in literatures in English with a Near Eastern studies minor, had been an assistant to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, widely assumed to be the basis for Miranda (and the author herself for Andy).
The novel spent six months on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (and another six atop it in paperback) and was adapted as a 2006 film starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci that grossed $326 million worldwide.
It was even turned into a musical—composed by none other than Sir Elton John—that has played in London’s West End since 2022, as well as in Chicago.
A much-anticipated film sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2, debuted in spring 2026, two decades after the original; it too has been a massive hit, grossing $666 million worldwide as of late May.
The publicity and red-carpet events around the sequel’s release have given Weisberger—who has published seven other novels since her blockbuster debut—reason to reflect on the legacy of the characters she created, and to marvel at how what was once controversial has become firmly embedded into pop culture.
