A personal reflection on The Devil Wears Prada 2, fashion journalism, Italian fashion houses, AI, branding, creativity, and why human-made artistry still matters in business.

Why The Devil Wears Prada 2 Hit Me So Emotionally

I didn’t expect to get so emotional watching The Devil Wears Prada 2..

Like get a grip Jade… it’s just a movie about a fashion magazine, buttt here’s what happened.

For one, how has 20 years passed between movies?! Think of how much life I’ve lived since then.. how many identity shifts. Sitting there watching the film with two of my long term besties who have been there for majority of those changes, and are still here by my side. That’s pretty special.

Then there’s the fact I was on track to have a career in fashion journalism. I always thought that’s where I would be.

2006 I was in Italy deciding what I want to do with my life. I had a big decision to make… what career path am I going to follow?!

(Also, can we just acknowledge how insane it is that we expect teenagers to know what they want to do with the whole rest of their lives.. go to school, get into uni, get a good job, buy a house, start a family, set yourself up for life… YAWN… the unnecessary pressure that puts on us when we should just be enjoying our youth)

My Almost-Career in Fashion Journalism

Cue the Journalism degree. Well I love travel, I love fashion, I love writing. How can I combine all three?!

Vogue was my religion. I had shelves full of every edition.

And obviously there’s my love affair with Italy… it’s in my blooood… we all know how much Italians live and breathe fashion. How iconic Italian style is, and what a prominent role they’ve played in the industry.

Prada. Gucci. Valentino. Dolce & Gabbana. Fendi.

These are world renowned names.

All I dreamed of was travelling and writing about fashion… enter this movie where the main character was depicting that reality. Could it be, could that be meeee?!

Well, I studied the Journalism… was bored out of my mind since it was obviously much more heavily focused towards news reporting than fashion features.

But, I still managed to write some articles for our uni paper.

Then I went on to intern for a local fashion publication — Fashion WA. I don’t even have a record of anything I wrote for that cos the site no longer exists. But it got me into some cool events. Perth Fashion Festival launches. Runway shows. I even got in with a designer who made me my very own custom dress, after I fell in love with it on the catwalk.

I wore it to some fancy WA journalism function and it looked hideous… hence, I couldn’t even find a photo of myself that I was brave enough to leave on Facebook. But I was too obsessed with the fact that I had a designer make something for me.. to admit that at the time.

Fashion, Identity & The Stories We Tell Ourselves

I got the bank job to support me through uni. That’s all it was ever meant to be. A while I’m at uni job. But then uni ended and I was faced with the stark reality, there’s no fashion publications in Perth… I didn’t want to go work for a regional newspaper (YUCK!) … and whilst I tried to put my name forward to places in Sydney, and even thought about going to an internship in London, I convinced myself I wasn’t going to be able to compete with the people who already lived in those places.

Fashion career over before it even had a chance to take off.

The bank was paying well, and I was progressing through the ranks pretty quickly… then the BDM role landed and I felt like I’d made it. I didn’t need to work in fashion as long as I could afford to buy it whenever I wanted. At least that’s what I told myself.

But maybe all that shopping was really just a way of numbing the pain I felt for not following the path I truly wanted to be on.

Eventually, I quit the bank and landed in the glitzy, glamorous world of affiliate marketing. I was attending functions at fancy resorts, rubbing shoulders with the rich, going to luxe brand and marketing retreats with seats that cost $20k plus.

Then that world fell apart… and I found myself going down the spiritual path. Feelings of guilt and shame started to come up. How could I have attached so much meaning to money? Did I really need such extravagance?

I convinced myself, fashion doesn’t matter. You don’t need clothes or material things to feel rich. And it’s true… you don’t.

I’ve felt richest lying naked in the earth. Admiring the magnitude and wonder of the land. Or, losing all sense of time and space when I’m in the arms of someone I love. And when I get into those deep trance states on a drum n bass dance floor for hours and hours.

Material possessions can never replace those experiences.

But then… being able to really own your style can have that effect too. When you can walk into a store, put on an item of clothing, and feel your entire being come alive. See your personality shine through when you drape yourself in these stunning materials.

It’s not about looking like everyone else. Style, done well, isn’t about consumption. It’s about artistry, expression, culture.

I don’t buy into the fake beauty aesthetics… the plasticisation of women does nothing for me. But quality clothes… that’s a world that will always speak to me.

I was on a group coaching call recently where I was asked about my values. We were invited to do an exercise… which began with asking what feels most lacking in our lives right now. The immediate answer for me was “money”.. but it’s obviously not money that makes me happy, it’s what it can allow me to do.

The travel. The business investments. The clothes. The creative expression. The mentorships. The connection. And the ripple effect that can have on those around me.. I’ve always been a generous person.. I love being able to buy gifts, share experiences, treat the people I love… but when I’ve felt lack that’s been hard to do.

And as much as I haven’t wanted to admit it… it’s been such a cause of pain for me that I haven’t been able to afford to buy designer clothes in recent years. Back in my banking days I’d be dropping thousands on clothes every other week. Not that I’ve ever hit the level of shopping at the likes of Gucci or Prada which was always a dream… but I’ve always been a firm believer in supporting local designers — Aje, Zimmermann, Scanlan & Theodore, Camilla & Marc were amongst my favourites.

I’ve never been able to bring myself to shop on sites like Shein… I always try to avoid fast fashion. I would prefer to shop in vintage stores, and outfit repeat than buy mass produced items.

AI, Creativity & The Loss of Human Artistry

Every time I walk into a real fashion store, something turns on inside me. There’s quality, care, depth… a piece can tell a story… a store can open an entire world. It creates an experience online shopping will never be able to do.

And, this was another piece of the film that really moved me. Their commitment to preserving art, culture, and beauty.

Their reverence for it.

The symbolism of the Runway dinner taking place in front of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper masterpiece. The speech Miranda makes in response to the tech mogul wanting to buy out Runway and destroy everything it stands for.. declaring “The future is charging forward like Pompeii’s lava… Soon, not just magazines but models and designers will be unnecessary. AI will replace everything.”

But Miranda responds… “Human-made art and beauty must be preserved.”

She said a lot more than that, but I’ve been struggling to find the full quote online. But that part really moved me.

As I’ve been struggling with my own feelings towards AI diminishing human creativity, it was heartwarming to find a movie taking a stand for real journalism and real human art and creativity.

I don’t go to movies much these days… not wanting to participate in celebrity worship and all that jazz. So I didn’t expect to be so touched… but this really got me.

As did the relationships… the fact Nigel finally got to step out of Miranda’s shadow and deliver his own speech, that he was the reason Andy was brought back to Runway, Andy and Miranda became a real team, and that Emily admitted she actually wanted to be friends with Andy.

And in a more abstract but symbolic sense.. on Thursday night, I finally booked my flights to go back to Italy. I’ve known I’m going for months.. but I’m never one to book flights too far in advance, cos I rarely know where I’m going to be.

Anyway, Thursday I got the urge to book… usually I would fly into Rome. It’s just what I’ve always done. But I’m bored of going there and wanted to try something different. So I did a little digging and turns out Milan is actually a better place to get me to Sardinia.

I haven’t been to Milan since I was like 15 and went with family. It hasn’t really had much appeal compared to other cities.. but this time something in me felt called to go back.

Then it turned out, half the film took place there.. so that felt like confirmation I made the right choice.

Maybe that sounds ridiculous.. seeing magical signs in a movie about a fashion magazine.

What Fashion Is Teaching Me About Branding

But I think what really moved me wasn’t the glamour at all...

It was the devotion to beauty, craftsmanship, artistry, and to creating experiences that make people feel something.

Because despite all the noise online right now… despite AI pumping out endless content and brands becoming increasingly copy-paste versions of each other… the things that truly last still have humanity embedded in them.

Prada lasts.
Valentino lasts.
Italian fashion houses last.

And in the film… Runway lasts!

Because worlds built with soul survive trend cycles. These places don’t build pieces that are designed to be thrown out next season. They’re timeless and iconic. They share a feeling and build a story. They create an entire mythology people want to belong to.

And in my own work… it often comes back to this too.

Why Human-Made Experiences Will Always Matter

I don’t care about systems because I want to take the human out of the business. I care about systems and being able to automate the tedious things, because I want the humans to stay in love with their business, to be able to focus on their creativity. I want them to have more time for their artistry, ideas, expression, and big picture visions. For developing meaningful connection.

And it’s hard to stay inspired about that when you’re bogged down in the day to day manual operations that are constantly pulling your attention away from your zone of genius.

I care about creating worlds that people can step inside of and feel themselves come alive… places they want to belong to because it feels like they’ve come home.

And the more I think about it… the more I realise that’s a huge part of what House of Creation is for me.

I don’t even actually know what it’s going to end up being. The name is just circling strongly. Maybe it’s going to be a membership.

Maybe it’s actually meant to be a bespoke creation agency… considering the opportunities and conversations I’ve been having with other women in my field.. this seems to be the shape it’s taking.

But what I know, regardless of the form it takes… it’s about honouring business as artistry.

About preserving the depth, emotion, and experiences that can only be created by humans for humans. It’s about building brands with soul.

So… maybe I never became the fashion journalist version of myself I imagined back in 2006. But somehow, the aspects I admired most about the fashion world, have filtered into my business.

That’s the beauty of trusting our hearts wherever they end up leading us… and respecting every phase of our journey… because layer by layer we build the foundations for who we’re meant to be.

The deeper thing I was searching for was never really fashion. It was beauty. Story. Atmosphere. Human expression. The feeling of stepping into a world that makes you come alive.

And somehow… all these years later… I’m building exactly that.