How Meryl Streep's 'Devil Wears Prada 2' Premiere Looks Went Above and Beyond a "Miranda Costume"

It's a few days before The Devil Wears Prada 2's World Premiere at New York City's Lincoln Center, and stylist Michaela Erlanger is living a scene fans of the first installment might recognize.

There's a flurry of activity behind her on the phone: Doors opening and closing, samples dropped on counters, that general shiver in the air that says someone very important is en route. It could be the halls of Runway magazine before editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly sweeps in, ready to drop her Prada bag on Emily 1 or Emily 2's desk. But Erlanger is calling me from an unnamed hotel in Manhattan, where the woman behind the character, Meryl Streep, is on the way for her next batch of premiere fittings.

This hustle-and-bustle energy is where the red-carpet comparisons between Meryl Streep and Miranda Priestly should end, though. While Erlanger has dressed the star for Devil Wears Prada 2 tour stops in Shanghai, Mexico City, and now, New York City, in a range of designers fit for a fashion magazine's definitive film adaptation, she's not trying to recreate a "Miranda costume." Pulls like New York's red leather cape gown by Sarah Burton for Givenchy or Shanghai's deep blue Saint Laurent suit are actually in service of the actress's evolution.

"At the end of the day, what Meryl has in common with her character is that they’re both accomplished women at the height of their careers," Erlanger says. "That’s what I wanted to make the focal point for this tour."

Erlanger has dressed Streep for awards shows and press tours for over a decade. In that time, the pair has steadily worked toward the overall approach that's been visible in every Late Night sit-down and red carpet step-and-repeat on the Devil Wears Prada 2 premiere circuit. It's all about conveying a sense of authority through every suit. "We are really leaning into stronger, sharper silhouettes, bolder choices," Erlanger says. Three-piece suits have figured heavily into her daytime talk show appearances; a crisp Saint Laurent jacket or Schiaparelli set debuted on the nighttime red carpets. Each came with a pair of sunglasses—a pillar of the "power dressing strategy."

Before we spoke, the stylist had shared a mirror selfie from her studio where she's prepared Streep's range of power blazers and rows (upon rows) of designer heels. Erlanger estimates Streep will have worn around 30 total looks from the tour's start to finish. "Of course, to get 30 looks there's far more than 30 things that come into my studio," she says.

Some moments on the tour were, in fact, pure Meryl—like the selection of special awards pinned to Streep's Dolce & Gabbana suit for the first premiere, including the National Medal of Arts, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the Princess of Asturias Awards. But Erlanger knew how closely fashion people have watched the original Devil Wears Prada movie. So she and Streep paid homage to Miranda Priestly their way.

"I do feel like I've coined a new term, which is meta-dressing," Erlanger says. "For me, this is more of a reference within a reference within a reference, life imitating art and referencing the film."

Fans instantly caught the custom cerulean blue sweater J.Crew knit for one of Streep's talk-show appearances. They may have needed a few extra minutes to catch the homage to the "Urban Jungle" photoshoot from the first movie (in the form of a tiger-striped Gucci faux fur) or the wink at the belt incident inciting Priestly's famous cerulean monologue. (Streep layered four black leather Celine belts one on top of the other—because, as it goes in the movie, they're so different." )

Erlanger jokes that her entire styling method is really reiterating that, as the adage goes, "the devil is in the details." The less obvious the reference, the more fun she and her star client can have.

"It feels like fans at home, particularly fans of the film and fans of fashion, know how it works," she says, "so I think it would have honestly been a little disappointing if I just sent Meryl out in one Miranda costume after another. I wanted there to still be surprise, still be personality—for there to still be Meryl in all the looks that I sent her out in."

For New York City, Erlanger wanted to "really lean in" to the setting's identity as an "epicenter of fashion." And, she hinted at a spiced-up color palette. Eventually, I'd see it all unfold from my laptop: Femme fatale red coating slick Nour Hammour coats and that aforementioned Givenchy dress, custom Judith Leiber coffee clutches that nod to Miranda's early-morning demands of her assistants.

But before I can press Erlanger for even more proof that the devil is in the details of these looks, she has to hang up. Meryl Streep has just arrived.