Milan is leaning into the arrival of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” by turning parts of its fashion-week momentum into something that visitors can step into. The sequel premieres in Italy’s fashion capital Thursday, and while Prada is tied to the film’s title, the broader story uses fashion-world imagery to spotlight the city and the industry around it.
Prada may have a headline presence in “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” but AP reported that the movie does not present itself as a story about the fashion house. Instead, the film evokes Prada as a symbol of Milan’s fashion identity, including a Vogue cover moment featuring Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour wearing Prada, in homage to the franchise’s style cues.
Still, the production also mixed Milan’s fashion-week backdrop with other brands. AP reported that when part of the movie was shot in Milan during fashion week last September, a Dolce & Gabbana runway show—not Prada—served as the backdrop for a scene that included Streep and Stanley Tucci.
That blending of the film’s fashion references with real Milan continued to show up in how the city is staging the movie’s debut for local audiences. At Milan’s main department store Rinascente, shoppers and fans have flocked to a pop-up featuring photo-friendly set pieces, including a replica of Miranda Priestly’s desk and a faux Runway magazine mock cover. Giant statues of red pumps outside the store advertise the space, and AP said VIP guests attending the Italian premiere on Thursday will also move through the pop-up area during a cocktail event.
Milan’s counselor for culture, Tommaso Sacchi, said the enthusiasm around the film and its Prada associations reflects something more than celebrity marketing. He described the connection as good for the fashion system and said, “It’s a film that is good for the city.”
Rinascente CEO Mariella Elia said the response points to what she called a public appetite for levity. She described the pop-up’s appeal as showing “a desire for lightness,” adding that it was “not just about buying” and that the space aims to revive what fashion represents—“a desire to have a stylish flair once again,” along with “a desire for joy, too”—which she framed “perhaps in contrast with the current economic and international moment that humanity is experiencing.”
Inside the store, AP reported that visitors browsed limited-edition T-shirts printed with phrases from the first movie, including “Is there some reason my coffee isn’t here?” The set also drew academics and fashion-focused attendees who treated the replica spaces as a prompt to riff on the film’s signature look and language.
Valentina Cattivelli, a professor, said she did not see the recreation as an impersonation of Priestly herself when she sat at the desk. The replica included lines from the original film in an inbox, including Priestly’s dismissive “That’s all,” and Cattivelli told AP she appreciated the character’s professional style but rejected her attitude—saying, “No, I’m not so cruel in my daily life, but I appreciate her professional style and also her fashion and the taste for fashion. But not her sarcasm or cruelty, no.”
The pop-up’s Milan references also connect to the city’s real fashion landmarks. AP noted that Prada’s brand was founded a few steps away in the Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery, by Miuccia Prada’s grandfather, and that the shopping arcade today anchors two Prada flagship stores. With Miuccia Prada transforming the brand into a fashion force, the original movie’s theme of looking beyond runway frivolity finds an echo in the way the sequel is being staged locally, AP reported.
Annarita Briganti, a fashion journalist who wrote a book about Prada for Rizzoli’s Made in Italy editions, said the franchise’s connection to the brand stems from the title’s direct invocation. She told AP, “There is a close relationship between the ‘Devil Wears Prada’ franchise and Prada, because by evoking Prada from the very title, it evokes a fashion that makes you dream, a fashion that makes you feel elegant, a fashion that makes you feel good, a fashion that gives you an allure.”