You must have already watched the movie The Devil Wears Prada, which portrays what is actually the daily life in the main newsrooms of fashion magazines around the world. Elle, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and W Magazine are the most popular and the dream of consumption of very young journalists and even aspirants from this universe. In the film, Miranda Priestly, played by actress Meryl Streep is editor-in-chief of Runaway magazine and makes the lives of her employees a real hell with countless crazy requests. She is extremely demanding both in her personal and professional life and as the name of the film is compared to the devil. Fear! Over an hour and fifty minutes we are taken to what would be for many the wonderful world of newsrooms that in fact have nothing glamorous.
“You have time to enter and not to leave” is a phrase known to publishers, reporters and even interns who work in this environment. I would say it is an insane routine not only from what I saw in the film, but from what I was able to perceive during my interviews for my CBT that talks about women’s magazines.
The work of a fashion editor, for example, passes from the production of the monthly edition cover that has to be creative and make an impact on society, fantastic editorials with jaw-dropping photos and even precise analyzes of the main fashion shows in the fashion weeks. If you think that the sole function of an editor is simply to walk around with amazing pieces and sit in the front row on those occasions, I’m sorry to tell you, but the job goes beyond that. Glam?
The fashion world is extremely competitive and unfortunately driven by privileges so it is very difficult to get into that bubble. In addition to the insane hours of work, your personal life is certainly compromised because you are always divided with your work. In the film, Andy, who at the beginning had no intention of being part of the universe, but just doing his job, realizes that if you don’t enter that little world, you lose opportunities or you are not even recognized. When she enters the fashion world once and for all, he sees his relationship become strained. Let’s open a parenthesis here for her boyfriend who is a complete asshole who does not support the moment lived by the character. Never be that kind of man!
On the other hand, harassing denunciations by top newsrooms are numerous. Recently, we saw the Director General of Edições Globo Condé Nast (Brazilian editing company), Daniela Falcão become the target of complaints from more than 26 former employees of the most diverse positions who have worked at Vogue Brasil in recent years who reported abusive work relationships.
Unfortunately, the toxic culture of the newsroom world is nothing new. Screaming, cursing, oppression and work functions that went beyond the employment contract are only an alarming part of this scenario. Daniela has not spoken yet and I fear that she will never do so. She was compared to Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue who was the inspiration for the film we used as a reference for this article and of course we can’t help making this comparison too, would she be seen as the devil in her writing too?
Always well dressed with bags, shoes, clothes and accessories of the latest fashion, journalists working in this environment make us imagine that the world of newsrooms is really wonderful with a lot of pomp, bapho and elegance. Yes, it is also, but it is not only that. The magazine that hits the newsstands every month or the daily publications on social networks are just a small percentage of the crazy and demanding routine lived by each component, which makes writing a toxic environment because if you never have time to stop what time you go live?
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The article above was edited by Clarea Suaiden.
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