15 Best Movies Like The Devil Wears Prada

When "The Devil Wears Prada" came out in 2006, it made an immediate splash. Not only was the movie a success, but almost 20 years later, people are still talking about it. Of special note is Meryl Streep's role as the devil of the title, Miranda Priestley. She offers up a gaga performance that places her at No. 6 on our list of best Meryl Streep movies. The David Frankel-directed comedy-drama, based on the book of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, is about Anne Hathaway's Andy Sachs. Andy wants to be a serious journalist but instead ends up as the assistant to Priestley, the editor of the fashion magazine "Runway," despite having little fashion sense herself. Priestley asks the impossible of Andy, keeping her jumping at all hours until it begins to impact her relationship with her boyfriend. "The Devil Wears Prada" is ultimately a study in what one person is willing to give up to make their dreams come true, versus the lines they won't cross. 

The film was such a success that "The Devil Wears Prada 2," with the original cast, is currently in production. If you're looking for similar movies, especially before the sequel hits screens, you can't do better than these 15 movies. They all have at least one thing — whether it's bad bosses, fashion, or star Anne Hathaway — in common with "The Devil Wears Prada."

"The Princess Diaries," from 2001, is about a teenager, Mia (Anne Hathaway), who, after living her life in San Francisco, discovers that she is the heir to the (fictional) throne of Genovia. As a result, she must not only wade through the intricacies of the public's newfound interest in her, but she must also decide if she wants to be a princess at all.

This movie would be similar to "The Devil Wears Prada" even if it didn't have Hathaway as one of its stars — its princess makeover scenes are reminiscent of the makeover scene in "The Devil Wears Prada" — but with Hathaway, it's even more apropos. Plus, this movie features another legendary actress as the older woman that Hathaway's character looks up to and learns from. Meryl Streep is that person in "The Devil Wears Prada," it's Julie Andrews here, as Queen Clarisse Renaldi of Genovia and Mia's grandmother. While Miranda is harsher in "The Devil Wears Prada," Clarisse is equally as confident and stylish in "The Princess Diaries."

"Late Night" is about a female comedian, Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), who stars in a late-night talk show. Katherine is beloved for her role, but her show hasn't hit the headlines in years. When the head of her network tells her she's going to be replaced, Katherine hires a young woman, Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), to become the only female writer on her staff in the hopes that she will help shake things up. While Molly is initially out of her league, eventually she gets the hang of it and helps Katherine become relevant again.

While this movie has nothing to do with fashion, the older mentor and younger mentee relationship between Katherine and Molly is similar to Miranda and Andy's dynamic in "The Devil Wears Prada," especially because, like Miranda and Andy, Katherine and Molly are part of a specialized industry. Like Andy, Molly eventually quits. Molly is quickly hired back while Andy is not, but both take issue with their toxic bosses.

In "The Devil Wears Prada," Andy gets a job at a fashion magazine despite having no interest in fashion. In "Confessions of a Shopaholic," Rebecca (Isla Fisher) gets a job at a finance magazine despite having no interest in finance. What Rebecca does have an interest in is fashion. In fact, she needs to freeze her credit cards because she's in way too much debt; she has a habit of buying whatever clothes she feels like, including a green scarf for $120.

While Andy and Rebecca couldn't be more different in personality, they both took on their jobs as stepping stones towards the careers in journalism they really want. But Rebecca grows and changes for the better as a result of her brush with personal finance, and her boss, Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy), grows and changes too, leading to their romance. This movie has a great cast, including Krysten Ritter, Leslie Bibb, John Goodman, John Lithgow, and Joan Cusack, all capped off by a charming lead performance by Isla Fisher.

"The Intern" is another movie starring Anne Hathaway. Between "The Princess Diaries," "The Devil Wears Prada," and this film, which was written and directed by Nancy Meyers — who's been trapped in an unfair limbo since Netflix nixed her last project in 2023 — there's a visual trajectory of Hathaway being a young girl to becoming a Miranda Priestley-like founder of a fashion website. In "The Intern" Hathaway stars as Jules, a woman who founded the e-commerce site About the Fit. She's tough and doesn't have time for almost anyone, but compared to Miranda Priestley, she's warm and fuzzy. So, she's sort of like if Andy from "The Devil Wears Prada" grew up to be the CEO of a company.

When About The Fit hires Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) to be her senior intern, she doesn't know what to do with him. However, she goes from dismissive and guarded to trusting and accepting of him when he drives her home after he notices her chauffeur is intoxicated. Jules and Ben develop a touching friendship and great working relationship that helps them both — him, because he needs something to do in retirement, and her, because she needs a confidante who's in her corner.

"The September Issue" is a documentary about the production of the September 2007 issue of Vogue, the magazine whose editor-in-chief is Anna Wintour, one of the inspirations for Miranda Priestley in "The Devil Wears Prada." Fans of Miranda will find this movie fascinating for what it says about Anna Wintour's take on her job, her working relationship with the many people who contribute to Vogue, and how she handles putting out the most significant issue of the year.

Not only does the film feature Wintour's somewhat cold response to designers and others in her orbit, it also features her working with Grace Coddington, the creative director of Vogue, who has a lot to say about Wintour's editorial decisions and her relationship with Coddington after over 20 years collaborating together. For those curious about how fashion magazines really operate and about how accurate "The Devil Wears Prada" is, this documentary has the answers.

"9 to 5" is about a terrible boss and what three women are willing to do to get back at him. Of course, this movie is from 1980, so terrible was even more par for the course then than it is today. In fact, Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman) repeatedly passes up Violet for promotion and is such a sexist pig that all three women — Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), and Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton) — have fantasies about killing him. So when Hart goes to the ER and Violet realizes she put rat poison in his coffee, she does some things that she isn't proud of to cover her tracks.

Not only is "9 to 5" hilarious, it speaks to Andy and Miranda's dynamic in "The Devil Wears Prada." While Hart is awful, you enjoy hate-watching him, and many people feel the same way about Miranda. At least Miranda isn't sexist. Despite everything else she does, that counts for something.

"Legally Blonde," from 2001, is like "The Devil Wears Prada" in reverse. While "The Devil Wears Prada" is about someone uninterested in fashion learning to love it, "Legally Blonde" is about a fashionista learning to love the seemingly stuffy world of law.

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) decides to follow her ex-boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), to Harvard Law School. It's not because she has any interest in being a lawyer, but because she wants to get him back in her life. Against all odds, she's accepted to the school and quickly discovers she has little in common with her classmates. That includes Warner, who tells her she's not smart enough to get an internship. But Elle isn't easily dissuaded, so she throws herself into her studies in her unique way and learns to enjoy — even excel at — legal minutiae. 

Elle not only gains a new understanding of the power of the law, she also learns to love herself enough to figure out that Warner is a bonehead. The thing that people remember the most about this film is Reese Witherspoon's performance as Elle, the funny and charming girl with great fashion sense and down-to-earth charisma. The film was so popular it earned a sequel, with "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, & Blonde," and a Broadway musical. A "Legally Blonde 3" movie could still happen, too. 

In this 2009 rom-com, Sandra Bullock is Margaret Tate, a high-powered editor-in-chief whose subordinates fear and loathe her. Sound familiar? Yes, Margaret is straight out of the Miranda Priestley mold. Like Miranda, she has a long-suffering assistant too, but in this case she asks him to marry her. See, Margaret needs to avoid being deported to Canada, and her assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), is from Alaska. Margaret tells him if he goes through with their engagement and wedding, she'll promote him and publish his book; he agrees.

To make their engagement seem actually believable, they travel to Andrew's hometown and, in the course of their awkward visit, manage to grow closer to each other. Very close. Unlike "The Devil Wears Prada," this a rom-com. Therefore, despite all their lies, the pair fall for one another, and Margaret ends up being a lot better as a person than she initially seemed.

The French film "Coco Before Chanel" is about a real-life fashion icon that's a lot like Miranda Priestley. Just like Miranda, everyone wanted to be and be seen with Coco Chanel. But this biopic from 2009 is about the time before Chanel became a fashion designer, how her beliefs shaped her style, and how she came to build her brand — a brand that still has her name today.

The film starts in 1893 when Chanel (played here by Audrey Tautou) is dropped off at an orphanage, back when she was known as Gabrielle. Eventually the film progresses to the beginning of her storied career. In between these stages, it shows how Coco came to two major decisions: To not marry, and how her unique style asserted itself in her clothes, which would be eventually embraced by a large swath of women worldwide. "Coco Before Chanel" is a restrained tribute to the woman that created a popular fashion label. As a bonus, the film features appropriately impressive sets, costumes, and hair designs.

"Trainwreck," from 2015, is a romantic sex comedy that was directed by Judd Apatow and stars Amy Schumer as Amy Townsend, a woman who doesn't believe in monogamy. During the film, she falls in love with Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), a sports doctor. He's a high profile specialist that treats some big names like the Lakers' LeBron James (who cameos as himself). But the real reason to watch "Trainwreck," if you want something similar to "The Devil Wears Prada," is Amy's profession as a journalist for a men's magazine under her boss, Dianna (Tilda Swinton).

Dianna is in the mold of Miranda Priestley. She makes Amy take the Aaron Conners interview because Amy doesn't like sports, holds a promotion over her head, and fires her when she unknowingly almost sleeps with her underage co-worker. Dianna isn't a great boss for Amy, but she's an exceptional character for the audience to fall in love with despite themselves.

In the 1957 musical "Funny Face," Audrey Hepburn plays Jo Stockton, a girl who works at a bookshop that is taken over by Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson) and Dick Avery (Fred Astaire). They're the editor and photographer, respectively, at the fashion magazine Quality. Though Jo is horrified by the presence of these people in the shop and prefers to talk philosophy rather than fashion, Dick sees something in Jo that inspires him to shape her into a model. Jo isn't so sure about the idea, but when she discovers they want to take her to Paris, a city she's always wanted to go to because it contains a philosophy professor (Michel Auclair) she admires, she relents. 

"Funny Face" has the makeover scene any good fashion flick requires, and just like Andy in "The Devil Wears Prada," it only happens after some fussing by Jo. Plus, Maggie is similar to Miranda, even saying the people in the fashion world are "artificial and totally lacking in sentiment." While Miranda would deny it, Maggie has a point. Though Miranda is much worse, both she and Maggie both lack a cozy, comforting personality. 

The 2004 film "13 Going on 30" is about Jenna Rink (played as a child by Christa B. Allen, who is still friends with her adult counterpart, Jennifer Garner), who makes a wish on her 13th birthday to be "30, flirty, and thriving." She wakes up the next morning in her apartment in New York City as a 30-year-old editor of the fashion magazine Poise and discovers that a lot has changed over the last 17 years. Not only is she no longer friends with her next-door neighbor Matty (Mark Ruffalo), she is best friends with the leader of a group called the Six Chicks, Lucy (Judy Greer). Jenna quickly learns she doesn't like who she is now and makes moves to correct the issue by being her charming 13-year-old self trapped in a 30-year-old's body.

Jenna has elements of both Andy and Miranda Priestley, of "The Devil Wears Prada," in her. As a 13-year-old, she seems more like Andy, someone who tries hard and can think outside the box; as a 30-year-old, we learn that she was a bit of a monster like Miranda, even going so far as to sabotage Poise's prospects by going to another magazine before she was taken over by her younger self. Ultimately, Jenna decides to be more like Andy than Miranda, and her world is all the better for it.

"Horrible Bosses," from 2011, is about three people with (you guessed it!) horrible bosses. While most people would simply quit if they found themselves in this situation, this trio –- which consists of Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) -– is scared to lose their jobs because of the awful state of the economy. That fear is demonstrated by their former classmate Kenny (P.J. Sommerfeld), who has been unemployed for years. Instead, they find a man, "Mother-F**ker" Jones (Jamie Foxx), who can help them with their problem ... by offering advice on the best way to kill their bosses. The whole thing is a big mess, but it all works out in the end. Just not the way they thought it would.

Though there is no mention of fashion or magazines in this movie, the three horrible bosses, played by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Colin Farrell, are like three Miranda Priestleys rolled into one. These bosses have quirks all their own, as do the three aggrieved workers, making this a great movie for fans of "The Devil Wears Prada." 

On the surface, "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Phantom Thread," which was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, have little in common. "The Devil Wears Prada" is a satire that takes aim at journalism in modern America, while "Phantom Thread" is a romantic drama set in 1950s London about a dressmaker and his muse. If you look a little deeper, you'll find that despite some tonal differences, the two films overlap in several ways.

Not only do they both take fashion very seriously, they both revolve around a toxic relationship between an older, curmudgeonly individual and a younger up-and-comer. In the case of "Phantom Thread" that pair is Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Alma (Vicky Krieps). Alma becomes Reynolds' muse and his lover as he continues to design dresses. They're horrible for one another, but each wants the other too much to let the relationship go. The film received six Academy Award nominations, winning one for best costume design.

"Cruella," a 2021 film, is an origin story for the famous Disney villain Cruella De Vil. It tells the story of the young Estella Miller (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland), who loses her mother when she went to a rich person's home to ask the owner for money. Without her mom, Estella becomes a part of Horace (Joseph MacDonald/Paul Walter Hauser) and Jasper's (Ziggy Gardner/Joel Fry) crew running petty crimes and grifts. That is, until, as a young adult, Estella (Emma Stone) gets a job at the Baroness von Hellman's (Emma Thompson) haute couture design house, where she makes a name for herself as a rising designer. When she eventually notices that the Baroness is wearing her mother's necklace, she adopts an alternate identity as Cruella, attending events and stages fashion shows where she gains notoriety as a disruptor to the baroness' fashion empire.

Though this movie leads directly into "101 Dalmatians" and has a lot to do with dogs, it also has a great deal to do with fashion. Like Miranda Priestley, the baroness is a high fashion icon who is cold and calculated. Meanwhile, also like Miranda Priestley, Cruella understands the power of fashion to help her promote her brand and further her agenda. When she wears a Dalmatian-printed coat, she makes quite an impression. That's something every film on this list succeeds at.