Have you seen The Devil Wears Prada 2? Despite getting a few ho-hum reviews it helped to deliver the biggest Mother’s Day weekend at Australian cinemas in history.
I saw it last Friday, following my interest being piqued by reports that it nails the collapse of glossy magazines.
I had a brush with the glossy world when I launched Harper’s Bazaar in Singapore. I scored the job for my competence rather than my fashion credentials – I’ve always been more Portmans than Prada.
I was already editing Singapore Cleo, so it was convenient and cost-effective for the publisher to add Harper’s Bazaar to my remit.
(Coincidentally, I chose one of the stars of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Lucy Lui, as my launch edition cover girl.)
As Miles Surrey at Bloomberg notes about the sequel: “The film delivers a chic eulogy for print journalism but also highlights why it is still worth saving by showing what stands to be lost.
“In an early scene, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly laments that Runway’s once-mighty September issue — a supersized edition that generates cultural fanfare and advertising revenue — is now “so thin you could floss with it.” It is a killer laugh line, but it also functions as a sobering diagnosis. In an era of clickbait and diminished attention spans, the old logic of prestige publishing — that quality commands attention and attention commands revenue — no longer holds.”
Among other all-too-real moments in the movie are Runway magazine’s new features editor Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) producing thoughtful journalism that no one clicks on.
These days, the goal is usually to churn out content that attracts the most pageviews.
Miles correctly – and sadly – summarises that media is in crisis, advertising revenue has collapsed, artificial intelligence threatens to hollow out what is left of editorial and public trust in journalism remains at low levels.
“When these forces undermine a pillar of democracy, a movie about the financial struggles of a fictional Vogue might seem trivial compared to All the President’s Men or Spotlight,” he writes.
“However, whether journalistic institutions are holding the powerful to account or explaining the significance of cerulean, the question of who controls them should remain urgent.”
Very true. But I’m not sure there is a happy ending when profit, censorship and clicks are the prime concerns these days.
Miranda Priestley describes Elias Clarke, the magazine company behind Runway, as “the last piece of wood floating next to the Titanic”.
I feel so privileged to have experienced glossy mags in the good old days, before the industry hit the digital iceberg. Those were crazy, exciting, joyous times.
As for my verdict on the movie – it was sobering and funny at the same time, but the plot was a bit thin, much like the September issue of Runway.
Why, for example, did Miranda Priestley HAVE to leave Milan at precisely that inconvenient moment? I remain perturbed.
That said, I will never tire of watching Meryl channelling Anna Wintour. It’s delicious. And so is the fashion. Plus, the movie has Aussie Patrick Brammell in it, what’s not to like?
Oh, speaking of my old magazine days, a former colleague has launched a humorous Substack called The Devil Wears Zara. Their latest post about beauty sales brought back so many memories.
Song of the day: Madonna “Vogue”
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