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Meet Anna Wintour’s real-life assistants who inspired The Devil Wears Prada – but where are they now?

STORYSumnima Kandangwa
The Devil Wears Prada 2 turned the spotlight on Anna Wintour’s various IRL assistants at Vogue throughout the years. Photo: @lilystav/Instagram
The Devil Wears Prada 2 turned the spotlight on Anna Wintour’s various IRL assistants at Vogue throughout the years. Photo: @lilystav/Instagram
Fame and celebrity

As Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt reunite for The Devil Wears Prada 2, the spotlight is on Anna Wintour’s iconic, real-life assistants

As Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt reunite to reprise their roles in the highly successful sequel to the 2006 cult classic film, The Devil Wears Prada, media attention has turned to the inspiration behind the iconic film and its very quotable characters – Anna Wintour and her various assistants at Vogue.
The film is adapted from a 2003 novel written by Wintour’s assistant-turned-author Lauren Weisberger, loosely based on her personal experience during the 10 months she worked for Wintour.

The book and its hit film adaptation launched Weisberger’s career. These days, she is a successful author working on her ninth novel and lives with her husband and two children.

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But who were Wintour’s other assistants? Read on to find out where they are now and what they’ve said about the movie, from Hollywood celebrity stylists Leslie Fremar – who claims she inspired Blunt’s character – and Kate Young to Marley Marius, now senior editor of features and news at Vogue.

Rey-Hanna Vakili

Rey-Hanna Vakili now heads a software firm in Australia. Photo: @reyvakili/Instagram
Rey-Hanna Vakili now heads a software firm in Australia. Photo: @reyvakili/Instagram

Vakili served as Wintour’s assistant from 2013 to 2015, working alongside Lily Stav Gildor and Lili Göksenin, the trio is also known as #TeamAW. Vakili currently works as a managing director at a software development firm in Australia.

Lily Stav Gildor

Lily Stav Gildor (left) was part of Anna Wintour’s team known as #TeamAW. Photo: @lilystav/Instagram
Lily Stav Gildor (left) was part of Anna Wintour’s team known as #TeamAW. Photo: @lilystav/Instagram

Gildor worked alongside Vakili from 2014 to 2015. In 2021, Gildor went viral after she shared what she learned as Wintour’s assistant on TikTok in 2021. “If you have five really chic and elegant summer outfits, wear them Monday through Friday for several months until the season’s over. Everyone chic at Vogue does this,” she said.

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