The Devil Wears Prada

Andy skips back in time to recount how she landed the job as Miranda’s junior assistant. After graduating from college with a degree in English literature, Andy dreams of landing a job as a writer for The New Yorker. To do that, she needs to build a strong resume. After weeks of searching fruitlessly for a job, Andy is amazed to receive a callback from Elias-Clark, the publishers of Runway.

Apparently, Miranda Priestley is looking for a new assistant, having promoted her last one. When Andy shows up for her interview, she appears dowdy, unaware of how to dress for a job in high fashion, and knows nothing about the magazine or the dragon lady at its helm. She’s put off by the employees and thinks, “Their lips never stopped moving, and their gossip was punctuated only by the sound of their stilettos clacking on the floor. Clackers, I thought. That’s perfect” (13). To her amazement, the interview goes well and she gets the job.

Having landed a job, Andy scrambles to find an apartment in the city. Her boyfriend Alex, an inner-city schoolteacher, is delighted to have her close by but disappointed that Andy’s new position won’t exercise her writing skills. She eventually sublets space in a tiny apartment with two Indian girls. The quarters are cramped but are all that Andy can afford on her meager salary.

Andy buys a big new bedroom set only to realize that her room is too small to fit anything but the bed. On her first day of work, she’s nervous because she’s never taken the subway and gets lost on her way to the Elias-Clark building. When she finally arrives, Miranda’s senior assistant, Emily, indoctrinates her. Andy will report to her. Luckily, Miranda is on vacation for a month, so Andy won’t have to deal with her immediately. Once settled at her tiny desk, Andy is introduced to many of her magazine co-workers, all of whom are extremely tall, painfully thin, polished, coiffed, and dressed to kill.

Emily receives a call from Miranda asking to have a skirt sent to her in Italy. Miranda doesn’t specify anything about the type of skirt, but Emily springs into action and mobilizes all the fashion houses in New York to provide samples. Andy is then sent by chauffeured limousine to collect the samples and a few other items that Miranda wants. She’s gone for five hours on these errands. During this time, Emily doesn’t leave the office even to go to the bathroom. She explains that Miranda insists that someone always cover the phones.

The rest of the workweek goes much the same as the first day—intense and frantic. Emily and Andy unwrap hundreds of Miranda’s expensive Christmas gifts. Emily explains that the editor will loathe most of them. She casually gives Andy one of the rejects, a high-end cell phone. The two assistants also wrap a few hundred gifts from Miranda to her friends and business associates. Andy calculates that the gifts and shipping will cost more than her annual salary. During her first week, Andy receives her ID card and the unnerving knowledge that it can track all her movements while she’s in the building.

On Friday, Emily announces that she’s going out to lunch with friends. When she hasn’t returned three hours later, Andy goes to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite. Emily catches her and is livid that the junior assistant has left her post. She says, “Our first priority—our only priority—is Miranda Priestly. Period. And if you can’t deal with that, just remember that there are millions of girls who would die for your job. Now check your voice mail. If she called, we’re dead. You’re dead” (69).

Fortunately, Andy gets a call from Miranda’s nanny, who says that she covered for the missing assistants. Back at home, Andy is too exhausted to meet Alex, her boyfriend, for dinner, so he brings an impromptu meal to her tiny flat to celebrate her first week on the job.