Chapter 1 The interview

I stood in the lobby of the Elias-Clark building. Beautiful
women and men went in and out of the lifts. They had
perfect hair and perfect bodies, and wore fabulous clothes.
This world was new to me and I knew nothing about it.
I come from a small town in Connecticut. I studied
English at Brown University, in Providence. At Brown wewore jeans and jumpers. We went walking in the country
and wrote about English books and plays. We neverthought about fashion.
I was just back from travelling for three months inEurope and Asia with my boyfriend, Alex. I was sleeping
on the floor of my best friend Lily’s flat. And I was looking
for a job.
I wanted to be a magazine writer. I really wanted towork for The New Yorker. So I wrote letters to all the New
York magazine publishers and asked for a job – any job. I
had one answer – from Elias-Clark. They published lots ofmagazines – from serious to film to fashion.
‘It’s difficult to get into magazines right after university,’
said Sharon. Sharon was the girl who met me in the lobby
at Elias-Clark. ‘There are very few jobs … and the pay isn’t
great! We have one fantastic job right now, but it’s going togo fast.’
We sat down.
‘Do you know who the editor of Runway magazine is,Andrea?’
I didn’t.
‘Her name is Miranda Priestly,’ she said quietly. ‘Sheis the most important woman in fashion … in the world!
Emily is her first assistant. And we are looking for someone
to be her second assistant!’
So here I was. In a lift in the Elias-Clark building,heading for Runway magazine on the seventeenth floor. I
looked down at my cheap suit and my flat shoes.
Maybe I’ll just go home now.
***Emily met me. She looked fabulous but she didn’t smile.
‘It’s a hard job,’ she said. ‘Some days you have to work
fourteen hours. And there is no editorial work – no writing.
As Miranda’s second assistant, your job is to look after her.
You help her to live her life and do her job. It’s great. Justgreat. You spend every day with this fantastic woman. Amillion girls out there would love this job.’‘Sounds great,’ I said and I wasn’t lying.
‘Miranda fired the last two girls after only a few weeks,’
said Emily. ‘But work one year for Miranda, and you can
get a job on any magazine in New York.’
And then I met Miranda.
***about fashion and I didn’t care! So why did I suddenly
want the job so much? Maybe because a million other girls
wanted it, too?
She asked me lots of questions about myself.
‘So you want to be a writer,’ she said. ‘Does that mean
you’re not interested in fashion?’‘Oh no, I love fashion,’ I lied. ‘And I want to learn more
about it. I would love to write about fashion one day.’
Where did that come from?
‘Which magazines do you read?’ she asked.
‘Well, I get The New Yorker and Newsweek every week.
And then I read Time magazine sometimes. And I read all
the travel magazines …’‘And do you read Runway, Ahn-dre-ah?’‘No.’
She looked at me for ten seconds without speaking. Theinterview was over.

Chapter 2 My first week

‘What brings you to Runway, Ahn-dre-ah?’ she asked.
She was English and spoke in a very British way.
‘I know that you’re looking for an assistant,’ I said. ‘I’ve
talked to Sharon and Emily … and I think I’m perfect forthe job.’
I was so wrong for this job. It wasn’t just my hair andclothes. My attitude was even more wrong. I knew nothingThe next morning the phone rang. I opened my eyes andlooked at my watch. It was seven o’clock! Who calls at sevenin the morning?
‘Andrea, good morning,’ Sharon sang. ‘I have very goodnews. Miranda liked you and she wants to work with you.
Isn’t that wonderful? Can you start on Monday? Miranda’son holiday, so that’s a great time to start. Andrea? Are you
there … ?’I didn’t even live in New York yet. I needed a few days tofind a room and get some furniture.
In the end we agreed – I could start a week later.
***