Anne Hathaway’s pearl necklace in The Devil Wears Prada 2 signals a style comeback

Anne Hathaway’s pearl-and-gold-nugget necklace in The Devil Wears Prada 2 did more than decorate Andy Sachs. It reframed pearls as something newly relaxed, less ceremonial and more editorial, exactly the kind of styling shift that can pull a classic gem back into fashion’s center of gravity.

That matters because the sequel is not playing jewelry as background detail. Production began at the end of June 2025 in New York City, with David Frankel back in the director’s chair and Anne Hathaway returning alongside Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci. The film was scheduled for theatrical release on May 1, 2026, and costume designer Molly Rogers said the new chapter revisits the fashion world of the original film, which made The Devil Wears Prada a durable style reference point in 2006.

Hathaway’s pearl necklace works because it refuses the stiff symmetry that can make pearls feel inherited rather than current. Set against gold nuggets, the strand reads as mixed-material jewelry with a touch of irregularity, the sort of piece that moves easily with a sweater, a sharp coat or a silk blouse. That tension, between polish and looseness, is exactly where pearls have been gaining traction again in fashion-led wardrobes: not as formal punctuation, but as a soft sculptural layer that can sit beside chain, diamond and even textured gold.

The sequel reinforces that shift with jewelry choices that are meant to be seen. WWD reported Hathaway wore a Jemma Wynne emerald-cut diamond toggle pendant necklace priced at $14,910 and a Marlo Laz squash blossom bead choker priced at $26,800, while Meryl Streep wore Briony Raymond pieces and Tiffany & Co. also appeared in the film. Together, those details turn jewelry into one of the sequel’s main styling languages, not an afterthought.

Rogers put the scale of Miranda Priestly’s update plainly: “Miranda has certainly compiled even more power in her position, so I think her clothes needed to reflect that her reach is even greater in the global world.” The jewelry follows that logic. By mixing pearls with gold, beads and diamonds, The Devil Wears Prada 2 treats adornment as character development, and that is precisely how costume jewelry storytelling can spill from screen to street, reviving demand for pearls that feel less precious in mood, and far more current in shape.