Issue #36: How I accidentally became Anne Hathaway in my early 20s

On living someone else's Devil Wears Prada dream. Plus, the 'Shoulds' that dictate our career paths.

Like most millennial women in magazine journalism, I blame Anne Hathaway for my entire career trajectory. The Devil Wears Prada, the film chronicling the rise and fall of aspiring journalist Andy Sachs (played by Hathaway) after she lands a job working for the formidable Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep, and widely understood to be based on Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour), conned a chunk of my generation into aspiring to be an underpaid magazine assistant with occasional access to fashion cupboard cast-offs. The film celebrated its 17th anniversary last Sunday, the same day that the film’s supporting star Stanley Tucci appeared on Desert Island Discs (it’s a fabulous episode). And while 17 isn’t exactly a milestone birthday, it did get me thinking about my own Anne Hathaway moment: the six months I spent, at the beginning of my career, working at British Vogue.