The Devil Won’t See You Now

The Devil Wears Prada catwalks into cineplexes today, and Diane Clehane weighs in over at LookOnline. The former Vogue underling-turned fashion freelancer also sheds new light on one of the magazine world’s most enduring urban myths—the dreaded Anna Wintour elevator encounter:

“On my second day, I found myself on the 12th floor waiting for an elevator with Anna. I have to laugh now at the memory. Feeling naively confident in my Loehmann’s-bought Armani, I stepped inside along with her when the doors opened, smiled brightly, and gave her the most enthusiastic, “Good morning!” I could muster. She didn’t flinch—she simply turned and faced the back corner and remained there for the long, silent ride to the lobby. By the time I got back to my desk, there was a message summoning me to my boss’ office.”

While it’s common media-world knowledge that one boards the same elevator as Wintour at her own peril, the fact that she went all Blair Witch on Clehane—literally turning to face a wall rather than simply ride in stony, forward-facing silence—is a new twist.

We recently heard this tale from Clehane in person, and can vouch for the fact that she’s not a walking hunk of stone, despite Wintour’s reverse Medusa. However, since their paths crossed back in the 80′s, we’d posit that Wintour had yet to reach the pinnacle of those peon-vaporizing powers she so deftly wields today.

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