The Devil Wears Prada 2 finally hit theaters on May 1, the long-awaited sequel to the original 2006 film that has become a classic for its hilarious gags, cultural references, and yes, the fashions.
While several moments from the original stick in fans' brains (the many coats and bags slung on desks, "the Chanel boots," Andy Sachs' montage to "Vogue"), it's arguably hard to beat Miranda Priestly's (Meryl Streep) iconic and vicious monologue about cerulean in response to Anne Hathaway's sweater.
© Alamy Stock PhotoSpoilers, spoilers!
(spoiler alert!!) And you best believe, that cerulean makes a comeback in the sequel for a sweet, full-circle moment at the movie's very end, when Andy (Anne) walks into the offices of Runway, this time dressed in a white button-down with jeans and, you guessed it, a cerulean sweater.
This version of the sweater is a lot more chic and flattering, cut into a sweater vest with a V-neck and frayed edges, which costume designer Molly Rogers cites as an intentional move from Anne herself.
Per USA Today, Molly revealed that she'd sourced the very same cerulean sweater from the original to bring back for the sequel 20 years later. "The first phone call I made was to find out if it still exists," she shared. "It needed to be seen again, and I love that it's the last thing you see. It's full circle."
A (cerulean) full circle
But once it hit the wardrobe department, however, the Mother Mary actress took things into her own hands, giving the sweater a snip-snip with a pair of scissors to turn it into the more fashionable accessory you see in the sequel.
As Molly recalled: "Annie scared us to death in the fitting room. She just took a pair of scissors and whack, whack, whack – she just chopped the sleeves off of it."
The original plan, she stated, was to "to make it feel like it had been cherished all these years and seen some rough times," but instead, Anne's chopped direction worked out even better. Her thread through the movie is feminine menswear, so this was a good place for a vest. It kind of put an exclamation point on that."
© Getty ImagesReferences in The Devil Wears Prada 2
As for other iconic pieces from the original? "Some things are better left untouched," Molly quipped. "People were asking me, 'Are you going to bring the Chanel thigh-high boots back for the second movie?'"
"But I felt like that should live alone in its time frame. That is so sacred to me in the first movie as a moment – I wouldn't think you could do that justice by bringing it back for '2.' I really did not want to touch that."
© Getty ImagesWithout spoiling the sequel itself (which has received positive reviews and already emerged a summer box office success), there are subtle references to several other moments from the original, with the two belts ("they're so different") and Miranda's gold coin bolero jacket, to some of the character's more vicious catchphrases like "Has she died or something?" and "That's all."
