The Who What Wear Podcast: Behind the Fashion of The Devil Wears Prada 2 With Costume Designer Molly Rogers

0:01This episode is sponsored by 20th Century Studios' The Devil Wears Prada 2. Gird your loins as the iconic cast is back for this highly anticipated sequel. Miranda Priestly is dealing with a major scandal that threatens the entire magazine. And now, award-winning journalist Andy Sachs is brought back to Runway to try and save the publication. And Miranda's credibility. With Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci all reprising their roles, this is a reunion you won't want to miss. Make sure to get your tickets for The Devil Wears Prada 2 only in theaters May 1st.

0:53Welcome to the Who What Wear podcast. I'm Who What Wears senior fashion and social editor, Tara Gonzalez, stepping in for Hillary this week. Today I'm speaking with the costume designer of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Molly Rogers. Molly worked on the original film, as well as on Sex and the City and And Just Like That. Today we're talking all things The Devil Wears Prada 2 fashion, including looking back at how the most iconic looks from the original, like the Chanel boots, came to be, and what viewers can expect from Andy and Miranda's style evolution in the sequel. Plus, some really exciting fashion Easter eggs to look out for in the film.

1:28It's all coming up on Who What Wear.

1:38Hi, Molly. Hello. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so happy we could be in this beautiful environment of the closet. Absolutely. And obviously, you are the costume designer for the Devil Wears Prada 2. Yes. which I feel like is one of the most highly anticipated sequels ever, especially in terms of fashion films as well. It certainly feels that way. I keep telling people, and I've spoken about this with the actors, you know, I'm a big fan of the first movie, and I worked on it with Pat. It's a cult movie for me, too. I quote it. I've seen it 40 times. So my goal and my department's goal was to just try and deliver something that met the expectation.

2:21Yes. It's high. How did you kind of grapple with that pressure of knowing that the expectations were so high, but then also you did work on the first film. So going into this, how was that? I'm so fortunate that I did work on the first one because I had a history with the director and the screenwriter and the cast. So it's really good to know the roots, you know. I promised myself that I would just stay in my own bubble because I cannot deliver the best outfit if I am concerned about outside judgments or thinking outside what my role is, which is part of the crew and I'm expected to deliver. And if I thought about recrimination or anything that was happening, I think it would have really stunted me.

3:12In fitting rooms, and it's particularly that one, I always like to create a beautiful fitting room so that the actor comes in and I'm in there with my team and everybody feels like we can create and collaborate. And it's just a pretty place to be. So it's not a typical wardrobe fitting room. It's kind of glamorous. And we feel like we're really going for something. You've obviously had an incredible career and you're no stranger to fashion films and TV shows. I would like to know how many closet scenes I've done and also shoe shots. That is really a staple of any project. When I get to that page, I'm like, okay, closet scene.

4:01And of course, you've worked on as well and just like that. and obviously you run the department for the Sex and the City series, as we discussed as well. Ugly Betty. Yes. Confessions of a Shopaholic. I worked home with Pat as well. Like, really typecast, Pat and I. Yeah, exactly. So I was going to say, how did you kind of create this niche for yourself as a go-to costume designer for the fashion TV shows and movies of our time? I think that Pat and I just built up an incredible contact list. I wanted to say Rolodex. like a contact list. And I think when you have an outreach like that, as quickly as everyone changes jobs in the fashion community, when you have a contact list like that, producers know that you can pretty much talk to anybody in the world if you need a hat or a bag.

4:55And I think that's a big plus. And now back to the Devil Wears Prada 2. Yes. Where did you kind of start the costume design process? And did you immediately start to think about where you would pay homage to the original? I loved the first movie. And when I read the second script, I was very excited that there were nods and mentions to the first one, because that's always fun to look out for or catch. I was fortunate enough to be in my little apartment in Miami Beach and the director was in Florida. He, you know, had been immersed in it much longer than me. And we were just talking generally about things and the state of the business and what the movie was really about.

5:44And I just wanted to talk clothes, but no. So that really helped to have that one-on-one time with David Frankel. And then when I got to New York and started doing, I like to do presentations, decks for the actors to say, this is what I'm thinking. Does it connect to you? And so I started working on the images and I got to speak a lot with the screenwriter, Aline Brosh McKenna, who is delightful. That's why, you know, it's a process, which is why it's called pre-production. You're not shooting anything yet and you get to marinate and think about things. But before I left Florida, there were pieces.

6:30It's funny how things jump out at you and you don't know what scene they would be in or if they will even make it into the movie. But I saw the tassel jacket trees way early. And I thought to myself, that's a little heightened. but it reminded me of the gold beaded bolero gold coins. I think it was that Miranda Priestly wears in the cerulean siloquis scene. It kind of was a sister or connection to that jacket for me. Yeah. Because that was kind of an ornate office jacket with it held all these. I don't know if you remember gold coins and I was attracted to it and it was on the slideshow and Meryl was like, what's that?

7:17And you're like, that's the tassel jacket. Yeah. Let's find a scene for it. I thought it was very appropriate that she wears it going to the cafeteria when she meets this entire table of suits because it really shows she is an editrix. She's not in pinstripes. Absolutely. I liked that. That's so amazing that you mentioned that because that was one of the pieces that I immediately walked out and I kept thinking about it. I'm always a big fan of fringe and tassels. And there was something about that jacket that felt under the radar. Like I wasn't seeing it on people and I hadn't seen it in a store.

7:55Maybe it hadn't shipped yet, but I was like, that's a sneaky one. It was always meant for Miranda Priestly. I hope so. Yeah, I think so. You had mentioned a little bit the first Devil Wears Prada. So I would love to discuss maybe some of the original iconic looks and a little bit of an insight on how you decided on certain items. Sure. Like, for example, Andy's cerulean sweater, which is also behind us in the closet. And I gasped when I saw it. You know, I wish I could rewrite history. Pat and I were stuck in a fitting on Leroy Street. And for some reason, and I don't remember why, we needed this outfit immediately.

8:36I don't know if Annie was coming in for a fitting or if they wanted to do a publicity. It had to be decided immediately. And this is before you were shopping and you could send pictures to the costume designer and you could help guide a shopper. We sent Super Shopper, is her nickname, Wendy, out. She ran down Lower Fifth Avenue in and out of J.Crew and Banana Republic and just brought back 12 shopping bags and was so stressed out and freaked out because that's a pivotal moment. Like you're being made an example of, you fish out of water. And it was chosen by Pat like nothing. I don't think there were a lot of sweaters.

9:20I think it was more about what dumpy shoe or what skirt. sometimes those things are good when you have a time deadline because you can't spin out of control. It's like it's either this or nothing. And that just felt right. That still has the corn chowder stain on the front from the cafeteria scene. And it is actually the first phone call I made when I was hired. I called the studio and said, is there anything left in storage from the first movie? Because I really wanted that in the second. I thought it was an appropriate one to pull out. And they were like, the corn chowder is on it. It's an artifact.

9:57No problem. But I was so happy to hear that. It's funny because immediately when I read the script, I spoke to David, the director, and said, we have to get the cerulean sweater in this movie. And he was like, wow, great idea. Because there was a couple of places we could have put it, I feel, but we wound up in the right scene. A lot of people were asking me, are you going to reuse the Chanel thigh-high boots? Are you going to bring them back? And for me, those were untouchable. How am I going to beat that scene when she comes out? Exactly. And Giselle and Emily are like, I didn't want to recycle those.

10:35Do you remember the decision process of those iconic boots? I should make up a fantasy story. Yeah. Honestly, sometimes it's whatever's in the room. Mm-hmm. It wasn't show me all the thigh-high boots in the world. Yeah. Yeah. It's you're fitting someone. You have a limited amount of time. You've called in everything you possibly could that you might use. And they happen to be there. But I feel like that's amazing too, because there's some kind of fate in that, you know, I feel like she was always meant to wear those. Totally. It is very witchy when that happens. I have to say you get like, ooh.

11:11Exactly. I remember I called Chanel when we were in pre-production and I said, Annie has been cast as the assistant and Chanel said, we want her. And they were like, we will back the truck up for you. And how can we help? Amazing. And Mr. Valentino also said that to Meryl. How can I help your closet? Yeah. And to speak of Meryl as Miranda, her iconic glasses obviously became such an important part of her character and the way She gestures? Yes. Do you remember that kind of process of like, what kind of glasses? Another tragic story. Pat and I were walking down, I think West Broadway and Salima Opticals was there.

11:59We went in because for some reason they had a friend of theirs hats in the window and were hat crazy. And we went in and Pat saw those glasses. And Pat tried them on and said, I think these would look really good with white hair. And that was it. And luckily, they looked good on Meryl's face because you know how sunglasses are. They're like jeans. You've got to try a lot. You know, we weren't making a documentary about Anna. Meryl and Pat were creating an editor, a top editor of a magazine in New York. And the white hair and non-Anna dark glasses helped to make that person unidentifiable. You couldn't say, oh, they've just done a version of Anna.

12:47It was about creating someone that didn't exist. Absolutely. And you really brought her once to life. It had a lot to do with the choice of hair. Yeah. You know, that color hair, that beautiful white smoke goes with so many colors. So you guys are like, great. Yeah. It makes your job easy. Yeah. Of course, I'm familiar with the first movie, and I really studied it again and saw how Miranda wore a lot of pencil skirts and crop jackets and, you know, like a certain silhouette. Yes, she was in pants and she had a trench coat on the run through. And, you know, there were, you know, variations. But for me, that's kind of what it was.

13:31I saw a company in Bergdorf's that I thought it was the best jacket I had ever seen made. It had a strong shoulder. It had a cuff that you pushed up and it stayed up and you still had the cuff part showing. You didn't have to roll. It was such a clean silhouette. It was such beautiful fabric that I just was like, I think this is going to be it for Miranda Priestly. It was modern and it moved and I needed her clothes to just create a frame that said power, authority. It didn't need to have bells and whistles. And Meryl put that jacket on in the fitting and was like, wow, this is a, you know, sharp and clean and just lovely silhouette.

14:25It was really a winner. So that kind of led us down that path of we're going to go with duster coats and blazers and a skirt that moves down the sidewalk towards the Dior meeting and, you know, pockets in skirts, which I don't know about you, but I love. And I'm wearing that company now. It's Sassoufi, and they're Italian. And I can't say enough about how it's a great line. I don't want to do a commercial for them, but for women, working women, it's fantastic. So wearable. Yeah. And then what about Andy? From the very beginning, the director and I and the writer, She was going to need the most layered clothing.

15:11In the first movie, very, very easy. Fish out of water at Runway magazine, goes to the closet with Nigel, comes out in a thigh-high boot, okay? She's drunk the Kool-Aid, let's say. This movie, you know, she's been a reporter, so she's traveled around the world. She obviously learned from her time at Runway about fashion, so she doesn't ignore it. And I think that gave us license to add vintage pieces that she found around the world when she was reporting or found a designer bag that she was like, I know this is a quality bag and I know I'll have this forever. So I'm going to buy it from the secondhand store and put the money where it matters.

15:57We had to have many, many fittings with her. And I was really interested in giving her feminine menswear reporter room, just an inspiration of a vest and a tie. Not the cigar, but like a newsroom. That didn't come like Meryl trying on a jacket. Absolutely. That was a bit of a process. And luckily, I got very generous time with everyone. And then what about Emily? Well, Emily was the shopper's favorite. I mean, of course, they loved shopping for everyone. This was the thrill of a lifetime and a million girls and gays and boys and everyone would kill to be in this department. But everyone loved to shop for Emily because she's the edgier character.

16:49and you just got to go and play in Rick Owen and Margella and see what combinations you could put together with the Dior pieces that we had access to, which Jonathan made custom for us. Every time I would go in her trailer to dress her, she would say, this is my favorite outfit. And then the next day, I think this one. She is so lovely and such a treasure. And there was one outfit that we did in a fitting. We called it the Swamp Elf because of the color of it. We nicknamed it. We loved it so much, Tara. And it didn't get in the movie. We just did not have a scene for it. And she was, wah, wah.

17:31Swamp Elf. Swamp Elf lives in all. We have the fitting photo of it. We all fell in love with it. It was too out there. Okay. Maybe too iconic. Tucci. Mr. Stan. Oh, my God, yes. I just want to say something about Nigel. Let's talk about Nigel. I like to classify him in the category of divas, too. Let's not leave him out. He is very knowledgeable, Mr. Tucci, of clothing, as you can imagine. He looks spectacular in his personal life. But he, I feel like, is the character who changed the least. He still has his silhouette of, it's kind of a nod to British dandy in a way. He has his hanky. He has a vest.

18:15you know yeah um it kind of didn't change that much just came up with the times we did a custom richard james which is a savile row tailor we he had a three-piece suit from them yeah he kind of is the rock i guess in the office he is he's the foundation so he didn't go off on a you know fashion tangent and all of a sudden show up in tom brown you know what i mean exactly he's kind of the backbone. He keeps things grounded. Yeah, he's the foundation. He's the person that kind of is getting everybody, the mediator, you know, kind of between everything. Yeah, it's still going, that magazine, because he's there.

18:54Exactly. And without him. Yeah. He's Miranda's cornerstone, let's say. And he looked amazing. So there's a new, there's new assistants and there's a new office. I was just interested, are these assistants on TikTok? Are they dressing in a fashion? Well, the one thing I do feel about the first movie is when I watch it and I watch it over and over and over again, I still enjoy it, is that the clothes, I can't really point to something and say, well, that was shot in 2006. Everything just looks a little suspended for me. And I really wanted to do that with the characters and especially the assistants.

19:37I didn't really want to see anything that wasn't going to age well. Simone Ashley's character was written head to toe Tom Brown. And I just spoke with the director and the screenwriter, Aline, and said, I think it'll appear too flat and we need to mix in things. Like Monse, I think that's how you say it. She's young. She has access to things. So I don't think she would be so in a uniform. It's appealing and she did wear it. But like I said, I wanted, I hopefully it can stand up to the test of time. I think you did a great job in terms of they were wearing timeless pieces that you can watch in 10 years.

20:19And I do feel like it doesn't feel super trendy, but it still does feel very modern. I didn't want it to be like lackluster. Exactly. But I didn't want look number 17 on anyone. Absolutely. Annie has a runway look from Chanel. You know, I know it's recognizable as Chanel, but I don't think it permeated the culture and everybody was buying it. And that boucle that she runs around Milano in, I think that's a timeless pattern, no matter what show it was from. Fingers crossed. Yes. And to kind of go back to Andy a little bit, too, I love how you said that she kind of has gone out in the world. She's become a serious reporter and she still dresses really well.

21:00and you can kind of see that runway influence that she always carries with her. How did you want to try to implement that specifically? Like what were you, when you were putting together her looks, how did you do such a good job at making sure that that came across? One thing that I think really guided me was the coach messenger bag. When props brought in like three bags that they had found and I was like, wow, that is so soft, that leather. That looks like it's been on a junket somewhere, you know? And when Annie put it on her shoulder with like whatever jacket I had on her, old Giorgio Armani, it looked like she owned it immediately.

21:43It's a coach bag. That's a name, you know? I wanted more like loafers on her, you know, to really do the feminine menswear. I don't think we ever got there. It's kind of like the Chanel thigh high boot is the mosaic maxi from Gabrielle Hearst that she goes out to the Hamptons in. Not that the movie is black and white on her until then, but you really see, oh, she's at runway now. She is in color when she's going out to the Hamptons. I thought that was a good place for that maxi. And then a good example of what I think you're asking me is she adds a bucket hat, which is a piece of her. Do you know what I mean?

22:32Yeah. Once she kind of starts. She could have had a visor on with somebody's name on it, you know, and been very like going to the Hamptons, but it grounded it. Absolutely. So she got that dress from Nigel. Yeah. She can't afford that. When she's at runway, she does start to turn it on a little bit. And obviously you see Nigel help her get there as well. And that helped the story. He, you know, he helped her pack for Italy because in Italy, she's up in the designer's world. But I remember the first meeting with Annie and I told her, I've broken down your changes. I think you changed something like 40 something times in the movie.

23:12Wow. But you don't get access to the runway closet until like change 27 and she was like what that can't happen wait a minute so i think they introduced it a little more in dialogue like this is margela jacket i got well nigel asked her early in the movie i think what's that jacket it's good on you that was a really fun detail yeah i don't think you have to over explain but you know So you needed a little, like, I don't know that who would notice that that was Margella. I'm sure some eagle-eyed fans. What, are we kidding ourselves? Yeah, exactly. I think it was a good dialogue change. I liked that little nod of, oh, it's nice.

23:58And she was like, oh, I thrifted it. And it goes to what you were saying, where she's out in the world in a different career path, but still remembers her runway times. And so she's able to pick out those pieces. Another really appropriate self-purchased outfit was when she goes to Dior store, I think, to do a story on Emily. She has a pinstripe vest and a pinstripe pant that are conjoined. It was Gaultier. And talk about newsroom look. That one. And she didn't have anything on under it, which is much more relaxed styling. You know, she wasn't in a dress shirt and maybe someone really entrenched in the fashion world would have heightened it somewhat.

24:46Layered it in a way. It was easy wearing. And I thought that was a really good one for her. That is really smart. Just the small details. It just, it said it all in that one thing with her messenger bag. And for Miranda's dress at the Meggala-esque event at the beginning, the first look we see her in, it's this very red, gorgeous gown. And that felt very intentional and perhaps a nod to the name of the film, The Devil Wears Prada. Oh, yeah. And I would love if you could kind of talk about how you decided on that dress and that moment because it felt like such a big reveal to all these fans who have been wanting to see Miranda again.

25:27Well, I mean, speaking with Meryl about that specific scene, it was almost like we said at the same time, it can only be red. The devil does not come back in cerulean or metallic. The devil comes back in a red. And assistant designers, Danny and I think Jake and Jessica, I had three, were doing research for me and creating mood boards. because we wanted to build it, of course. And a dress in archival Balenciaga with a plume, a feather plume on the head. A black and white photo was on one of the mood boards and Meryl was like, what is that? She loved the shape of it. It's a version of the gown, but archival inspired.

26:19And we called Balenciaga and Pierre Paolo from Valentino, talk about famous reds. He had just landed at that house in Paris. Wow. Yesterday, hired. Yeah. And they said, we'll put it into our workroom schedule. Absolutely, you can count on us. So they sent swatches. And the beauty of these crimsons, because Meryl said, I want to be able to manipulate that collar to frame the white hair. I mean, it was really great. And she has beautiful shoulders and a neck. And it just accentuates the best part of her. They came over twice, I think, to glamorous queens to fit her. and she in the mirror thought that it would be really great to have long sleeve and sleeveless on you know to make it just that little that a fashion person would do and I love that little detail when you're right you're right doesn't have to be my idea for sure and that's so true she kind of has that fashion person sensibility of something that's a little offbeat but still looks incredible.

27:36It's got a little twist to it. And I think that's what she would do with an editorial shoot. It had pockets. She likes to touch and manipulate her clothes, at least in this role. That's the only time I've worked with her. And she loves a pocket and she loves to pop a collar. And it's very tactile, I guess I want to say. So pockets and it's just the volume of it. You've Seen it in there. It's great. It's such a winner. It has such personality. Now, the shoe. Talk about a shoe shot. Yeah, like, got to get the shoe shot. I could not convince her to wear anything but what they sent. She said they intended this low heel.

28:22And she was like, this is their intention. So I don't want to substitute, you know, I don't want to mix and match. But I was like... Okay. It should be a high. But it looked, it looked so good. And I feel like as we see Miranda in this new era, it's a new age of fashion media and runway isn't exactly the all powerful Bible it once was in the same way. It still is very powerful, but it's, it's different and things have shifted. And I was just interested with her style. Do we see her reconciling with that flailing influence at all? You know, going from seriously, I think a lot of pencil skirts or A-line skirts in the first movie, these skirts that had movement and pockets, for me, that was an example or an illustration of starting to try to pivot or be flexible.

29:25It's like, how do I navigate this new landscape? What's my next chess move? Emily, as you were saying, she has also had quite an interesting journey since leaving. She's very ambitious, that one. And she's no longer working on the publishing side of things. So when you were thinking about what this new era of Emily would dress like, what was the biggest thing that went into those looks? Well, because our partnership with Dior and that's where her character was going to work, I started harvesting all the pictures I could of Dior history and the different designers and what they did and achieved at Dior.