Fashion fans still have to wait another week before The Devil Wears Prada 2—starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci—opens in theaters. But in the interim, we have a special treat: Vogue caught up with the film’s costume designer, Molly Rogers, to get the scoop on all of the fabulous fashions you can expect to see come May 1.
Sitting down with British Vogue’s Alice Newbold for The Run-Through, Rogers spoke about crafting all of the fashion fun for the highly anticipated sequel. Nobody was more qualified for the job, after all, given she’d worked with costumer Patricia Field on the first film’s wardrobe back in 2006. “I knew I was the best person for it—it really helps having that historical perspective,” Rogers says. “It felt like coming back to summer camp with people that you missed and wanted to see again.”
Photo: Macall Polay/Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Her brief for the new film? To build upon the energy and look of the original, while also delivering something entirely unexpected to fans. “The DNA of the first film is so strong,” says Rogers. “I wanted to give it my perspective.”
Lucky for Rogers, she had a strong cast of characters to play with. For Runway editor Miranda Priestley (Streep), the fashion focus was clear from the get-go: Rogers wanted outfits that immediately projected power and strength. “It was obvious that a powerful woman like [Miranda] would have a very strong silhouette,” Rogers says. “She wouldn’t need a lot of frills…With an actress like Meryl, you don’t need to adorn them.”
By the way: those rather controversial Valentino Rockstud shoes that Miranda sports in the first TDWP2 teaser? Not Rogers’s idea. “I was not there the day they were shooting that scene, and they just popped the shoes on,” she says. “I did not think it was character-appropriate for Miranda to wear a Rockstud, but they liked the way that it looked. When I saw that hubbub about it, I was like, ‘I’m innocent!’”
The costumes Rogers crafted for Emily Charlton (Blunt)—who now has a high-powered job at a major fashion house—were no less striking. “Emily’s character is so sharp-witted, and her costumes had to have the edge of the first movie,” says Rogers. “We went to Century 21 all day long and scooped up Vivienne Westwood, Rick Owens, Margiela.”