Has the new Devil Wears Prada collection lost its flair?

This isn’t the only publicity round for the film that has been made recently to blur the lines between actors and fictional characters, an approach that’s fitting for this cultural and political moment, where fantasy and reality often seem similarly blurred. Timothée Chalamet’s stunts for the Oscar-nominated film Marty Supreme, in which he played an arrogant opportunist, included a viral video in which he pretended to be an arrogant version of himself leading a marketing meeting. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s sordid statements about friendship on the first Wicked tour were widely mocked, reflecting their characters’ bond.

“Distorted” personality.

But nothing beats the Devil Wears Prada tour for sheer embodiment — and, more importantly, Wintour’s omnipresence suggests that the story’s satire has been distorted. In the original, Streep made Miranda a toxic, laughable boss. “The details of your incompetence don’t interest me,” she told Emily coldly, blaming her for a scheduling change beyond her control.

But having a successful film changes a lot. Wintour seems to have concluded that it’s better to be inside the tent than outside. Sadly for fans, the campaign already suggests that the sequel will feature a softer version of Miranda. If the trailers tell us anything, it’s that they point to an emphasis on Andy’s return to Miranda’s orbit and on nostalgic callbacks to the original. In one, Nigel’s voiceover describes Runway as “a winding road that brings us together again.”

In the joint interview, Wintour — who is no longer the editor of Vogue, but the content director at her publisher Condé Nast — said that when she learned of a sequel she called Streep, who reassured her: “It’s going to be okay.” Now Vogue can’t stop covering the film. The magazine rounded up outfits from the red carpet for the press tour. Her book club is reading the novel that inspired the first movie. Her podcast features three of Wintour’s former assistants.

By contrast, when the original film arrived, Wintour and most of the costume designers kept their distance. “Everyone was afraid of Anna the first time, so we couldn’t find any clothes,” Streep recalled in an interview with Vogue. Molly Rogers, the fashion designer who argued this time, said the designers knew the film would give them “the best in the world.” Like Vogue, the film is a promotion for lines like Dolce & Gabbana, Balenciaga, Dior and Phoebe Philo, all of whose clothes appear on screen.