When Life Gives You Lululemons

When Life Gives You Lululemons is the third installment in Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada universe, which begins with The Devil Wears Prada, followed by Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns. The Devil Wears Prada was an instant New York Times bestseller when it was published in 2003. Based on Weisberger’s personal experiences working for Anna Wintour at Vogue magazine, the novel exposed the toxic and hypocritical culture of the fashion industry. Much of the industry responded adversely to Weisberger’s fictionalization of Wintour as the terrifying, cold-hearted Miranda Priestley. However, these critiques did not harm the success and popularity of Weisberger’s title. The Devil Wears Prada has sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into dozens of languages. In 2006, the story was also adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway (as Andy Sachs), Meryl Streep (as Miranda Priestley), and Emily Blunt (as Emily Charlton). The novel was also more recently adapted into a musical, composed by Elton John.

The Devil Wears Prada follows the protagonist Andrea (Andy) Sachs’s attempts to establish herself as a writer in New York City. Desperate to write for The New Yorker, Andy gets a job as Miranda Priestley’s assistant at the fashion magazine Runway. Andy knows nothing about Runway, Miranda, or the fashion industry but has heard that working for Miranda could launch her career in journalism. The longer she works with Miranda, the more embedded Andy becomes in her toxic, inauthentic world. She initially cares nothing about Miranda’s opinion but soon falls sway to her narrow way of seeing people and the world. Over the course of the novel, Andy must decide if she values her potentially high-powered vocational future or her friends, boyfriend, and personal ideals more.

In Revenge Wears Prada, Weisberger tells the story of Andy’s life after leaving Runway. She and her former Runway colleague Emily are tired of Miranda Priestley and eager for their own start. Together, they create The Plunge, an elite, luxury wedding magazine. The magazine is such a success that Miranda shows interest in buying it. Neither Andy nor Emily is certain they want to cow to Miranda once more. Meanwhile, Andy develops a personal life of her own, marrying and getting pregnant.

When Life Gives You Lululemons is set several years after the events of the preceding two novels. The title functions as a standalone novel but does feature several recurring characters from the series. Emily Charlton—a secondary character in the preceding titles—is the main character of When Life Gives You Lululemons. The novel does feature other primary characters (Miriam Kagan and Karolina Hartwell), but Emily’s story is central. Her portions of the narrative also feature allusions to Miranda Priestley and a reference to Andy Sachs. In one scene, for example, Emily is frustrated that when she tries contacting Andy “to tell her how Miranda had just hung up on her midsentence” (141), Andy puts her off. This moment makes Emily feel pathetic because she used to feel superior to Andy, and now, her former colleague doesn’t have “time for her anymore” (141). A moment like this one offers a subtle connection to the previous novels.

Emily’s intermittent communications with Miranda throughout the narrative also connect the series titles and strengthen the narrative themes. To Emily, working for Miranda is part of her past. She is hesitant to accept Miranda’s job offer to run the Met Ball because she does not want to revert to her youthful circumstances of being under Miranda’s influence, which feature heavily in The Devil Wears Prada and Revenge Wears Prada.