The Devil Wears Prada

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Symbols & Motifs

Fashion Labels

Designers insert labels into their clothing to identify their fashion line. While designers are busy tagging their clothing, the fashion world is busy tagging the importance of the people who wear those designs—in effect, labeling the wearer in the same way as the wardrobe.

The fashion world makes certain assumptions about people who wear haute couture: that they’re stylish, sophisticated, wealthy, well-educated, and socially prominent. None of these traits may be objectively true of the individual wearing a designer’s label, but perception matters more than fact.

The novel uses designer labels as a recurring motif. Initially, Andy mentions the off-the-rack brands she buys, and her co-workers humiliate her for this kind of apparel. As the book progresses, her taste in clothing becomes increasingly sophisticated. She demonstrates her new knowledge by telling the reader the origin of every item she wears. Some of her descriptions read like strategic product placement ads in a television show.

Andy seems to appreciate the elegance and artistry of designer items at the same time as she deplores the waste and expense associated with them. Miranda’s Chanel evening gown costs $40,000—enough to feed a family of four for a year. The dry-cleaning bill for that same gown is nearly $700.

The budding writer symbolically rejects designer labels after she quits by selling her Runway clothing for $38,000. She gleefully returns to a closet of jeans and sweatshirts after gaining back the 10 stress pounds that she lost while working for Miranda. When Andy stops wearing designer labels, she’s no longer seen as fashionable; however, the loss of that label doesn’t seem to trouble her much.

Cruel Shoes

Aside from the book’s general obsession with fashionable clothing, shoes belong in a category all their own. Unlike the clothing, the high-fashion shoes that the book describes are painful to wear. Andy prefers practical footwear for the myriad errands that she runs for Miranda daily. In contrast, her boss insists that the women of Runway wear stylish footwear—which automatically means four-inch heels.

From Andy’s first moments inside the Elias-Clark building, women wearing spike heels are everywhere. These heels make a clicking sound when they cross the lobby floor, and Andy refers to the shoes—and the women who wear them—as Clackers. Whenever Andy tries to rebel against the absurd idea of high heels on the street, Miranda reprimands her for her lack of style. The assistant tries to compromise with a trendy pair of flats, but Miranda insists on Jimmy Choo spikes.

Illustrating the painful nature of Andy’s trip to Paris is the pain in her feet from so many hours of wearing high heels. She says, “The strappy sandals that hadn’t bothered me so much on the plane were beginning to feel like long, flexible razor blades affixed to my heels and toes” (335).

After Andy tells Miranda off in the book’s climactic scene, she once again focuses on her footwear. “I hitched my bag higher up on my shoulder, ignored the pain that was searing from heel to toe, and strutted outside to hail a cab” (371-72). Her emancipation from Miranda is also emancipation from painful footwear.

Phones

At the story’s beginning, Andy is so poor that she can’t even afford a cell phone for herself. As one of the perks of her new job, Andy receives some of Miranda’s discarded Christmas presents. Emily casually gives her an expensive cell phone to use. Andy is overjoyed until she realizes the hidden price of the gift.

Cell phones are symbols of terror in the book. Andy dreads answering her phone because Miranda might be on the end of the line. Emily and Andy each receive a dozen calls in the middle of each night with vague instructions from their boss that send them on wild goose chases the following day. Miranda expects her assistants to be on-call, literally, twenty-four hours a day.

Even when Andy is out running an errand for Miranda, she often receives an angry call demanding to know why the errand is taking her so long. Andy says, “For most people, the ringing of a phone was a welcome sign. Someone was trying to reach them, to say hello, ask about their well-being, or make plans. For me, it triggered fear, intense anxiety, and heart-stopping panic” (93).

Telephones, in general, symbolize tyranny—slave shackles that Miranda uses to tether her assistants to their jobs. Either Emily or Andy must always be in the office to cover the phones. Failing to answer a call carries the threat of instant dismissal. During Andy’s flight to Paris, she revels in the seven hours in the air because Miranda cannot contact her.

Andy becomes so obsessed with the ominous nature of phones during her stint as Miranda’s assistant that she grows to hate them. She says, “Working for Miranda Priestly caused a number of unfortunate side effects in my day-to-day life, but the most unnatural one was my severe and all-consuming hatred of phones” (93).