Are you an Emily, Andy, or Miranda? When the infamous book-turned-movie The Devil Wears Prada premiered in 2006, the fashion community clutched its pearls. I, however, was nine years old and my mother took me to the local AMC theatre to watch, having already clocked my love of fashion.
I left the theater earnestly asking my mom why anyone would want to work at a place that stressful; how ironic that I would actually end up a Vogue employee. I also left with very specific opinions of the characters. I hated Andy’s boyfriend, for one, and while I didn’t like Emily either, I loved her blue eyeshadow. It felt so her; and there’s a clear reason why. Nicki Ledermann, the celebrated TV and film makeup artist who led the department on the original movie (earning a BAFTA nomination, no less), explains that the looks focused on characterization rather than imitation. No wonder the looks still read fresh and modern despite two decades having passed since its debut.
“Trends date because they belong to a particular cultural instant, but character doesn’t,” Ledermann tells Vogue. “These faces still feel alive because the people inside them still feel alive. That’s the only timelessness that matters.”
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In preparing for the original The Devil Wears Prada, Ledermann and the makeup department completely avoided looking at trend boards and noughties fashion campaigns, aiming instead to create looks for each fictional woman that were specific to each of their personalities. “I didn’t want to follow a trend but rather inspire one that was specific and considered enough to take on a life of its own,” Ledermann tells Vogue. “The inspiration was always rooted in character first—who are these women, and how does their face tell that? As an artist I’ve always been drawn to bold color and what it can do—not as decoration, but as expression.”
For Ledermann, she identifies the trio of main characters by three completely distinct beauty languages—bold eye makeup on Emily, warm orange and red lips on Andy, Miranda’s unwavering understated makeup. “Miranda found her signature long ago and never wavered. That consistency is her power—it’s a quiet refusal to be influenced by anyone. Meanwhile, color became Emily’s signature, with those striking eyes look so specific to her,” she says. Conversely to the unwavering aesthetics of the former, Ledermann describes Andy’s beauty looks as the most nuanced and fluid because “her beauty shifted depending on where she was and who she was becoming.”
