Toes numbing by the second, I raced through the snowy sidewalks of the Upper East Side in a panic. This was my third latte run, and I couldn't let a Very Prominent Interior Designer's grande soy get too cold before it reached his hands. To be clear, this wasn't the designer's third drink of the day; it was the third time I'd been dismissed to get his order right. The first time was too milky; the second too cold. This time, I asked for it extra hot, with a backup, in case the 30-degree weather chilled the drink too quickly—yet again.
He sipped, then sighed: "It's fine. I guess I'll microwave it, even though that ruins the flavor." It wasn't quite Miranda Priestly's (Meryl Streep) famous inquiry when her assistant, Andy (Anne Hathaway), was running late with her coffee—"Is there some reason that my coffee isn't here? Has she died or something?"—but it was pretty close.
Working in media in the pre-digital revolution was wild, guys. It was something the original The Devil Wears Prada captured so well, and as the sequel gets ready to launch on May 1, I'm so curious to see how they navigate how much the landscape has changed in the past 20 years.
One thing that hasn't changed: The industry—like the rest of the world—still runs on caffeine (except we get it ourselves and would laugh in the face of anyone who tried sending an assistant out three times to fetch it at exactly the right temperature). So, when Starbucks announced it launched a series of drinks inspired by the stars of the series—Priestly, her two former assistants, Emily (Emily Blunt) and Andy and Runway's art director, Nigel (Stanley Tucci)—I had terror flashbacks. And needed to try them all, ASAP.
