Meryl Streep Gets Surprisingly Candid with Anna Wintour and Greta Gerwig in New Interview

Meryl Streep, legendary talent that she is, had the internet on its knees this past week when her Vogue cover came out. Sharing the frame was none other than Anna Wintour, the magazine's famed (and fabled) former editor-in-chief, who served as the inspiration for Streep's character, Miranda Priestly, in The Devil Wears Prada franchise. With the follow-up film slated for premiere May 1, Streep has been on a whirlwind press tour, delighting fans with her fashion-forward outfits. But beneath the buzz of the Vogue photoshoot was a conversation with Wintour and director Greta Gerwig that yielded a particularly poignant line—one that hit close to home, whether or not you were dripping in couture.

As The Devil Wears Prada is a satire on the fashion industry, the trio naturally discussed the power of clothing. Gerwig noted the disparity in expectations for men versus women, saying, "For men, there's a clear code: You dress for the job you want. But for women, dressing has always been more nebulous." She then asked Wintour her thoughts on the correlation between women's dress and communicating power. Wintour highlighted the importance of dressing—no matter your budget or clothing brand—to feel like yourself. Good advice, but it was Streep's response that made me feel seen.

"All dress is about expressing yourself, but we’re also subject to larger historical and political sweeps of expectation," she said. "I’m stunned at how women in power have to have bare arms on television while men are covered in shirts and ties or a suit. There’s an apology built into women. They have to show their smallness. It’s compensatory: The advancements of women in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of this one have been destabilizing. It’s as if women have to say, 'I’m little. I can’t walk in these shoes. I can’t run. I’m bare, not threatening.'”

While it's always been compulsory to see some risqué looks on the red carpet, naked dressing is now totally mainstream (when it was once seen as daring), and, as PureWow Fashion and Beauty Director-at-Large, Deena Campbell, has noticed, Gen Z women are also doing away with pants.

Streep's comments also feel especially important right now, three years after Ozempic became mainstream and the body positivity movement all but crumbled. As an entertainment writer, I've covered my fair share of awards shows. One thing that I couldn't help thinking was how...small all the women seemed to be this year. It's a hotly debated topic in more than one Reddit thread, and even stylists are speaking out about this trend towards rail thinness in young and older actresses alike.

For their part, Streep and her co-star, Anne Hathaway, did their best to ensure that the models cast in the sequel film were not "so skeletal" after being alarmed seeing the models at Milan Fashion Week. Streep recalled that she was "struck by how not only beautiful and young—everyone seems young to me—but alarmingly thin the models were."

She may play the Devil, but in this case, maybe that's a good thing.