Meryl Streep delivered too many iconic moments to count in The Devil Wears Prada, but one monologue deserved a custom J.Crew sweater on the sequel's press tour. "That sweater is not just blue, it's not just turquoise, it's not lapis. It's actually cerulean," Miranda Priestly says to Anne Hathaway's Andy Sachs, when she scoffs at the difference between two shades of blue. 20 years later, Streep styled the history-making sweater herself on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Miranda may have called Andy's sweater "lumpy" in the 2006 cult-classic, but it seems Streep has a soft spot for the silhouette. Stylist Micaela Erlanger created a custom, almost-identical sweater with J.Crew, down to the vertical cable-knit stitching. Instead of stacking the not-quite cobalt, not-quite lapis style over a baby blue button-down like Hathaway's character, Streep wore it solo. The Oscar winner also traded Andy's plaid midi skirt for black trousers and loafer heels.
The moment in the film crystallizes how fashion insiders make decisions that trickle down to the mass market—like, say, choosing cerulean as a major color trend over another shade. (As Priestly puts it, ""You're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room.")
"Meryl made cerulean a cultural thesis, so the bar was high," said Olympia Gayot, J.Crew's womenswear director, in a press release. "That monologue is so smart and funny—it reminds you that what feels personal is actually part of a much bigger story, which is why The Devil Wears Prada still resonates."
In the film, Andy's cerulean sweater is pilled and semi-stretched, suggesting she "fished it out of some clearance bin." (Miranda's words, not mine.) This time, J.Crew upgraded the knit with a more upscale fabric. Casting the pullover in cashmere revived Miranda's "elevated, a little self-aware" style, Gayot added. "Meryl makes everything iconic. We just made sure this cerulean lived up to it."
At the time Streep tested cerulean, cobalt blue was the 2026 color trend uniting runway, red carpet, and streetwear style. But now, lapis lazuli has some healthy competition. Just don't use cerulean and cobalt interchangeably this spring—Miranda's watching.
