Plot summary
Shaken by the news that her best friend Penelope has gotten engaged to Avery, who neither she nor Penelope's other friends think is right for her, Bette Robinson abruptly quits her job at UBS, the investment banking firm where she has worked in the five years since she and Penelope graduated from Emory University. She does little to find a new direction in life until her uncle Will, an aging nationally syndicated entertainment columnist, introduces her to event planner Kelly.
Bette finds herself working for Kelly & Co., where she is tasked with planning parties, eating and drinking at the city's most fashionable night spots, and becomes a regular subject of a popular online gossip column, whose anonymous author seems determined to link her romantically to wealthy playboy Philip Weston. While she finds Philip somewhat attractive and the association becomes of great benefit to her in her new job, she is later drawn to Sammy, a bouncer at Bungalow 8, a New York City nightclub, who from her hometown of Poughkeepsie and harbors ambitions of being a chef.
The two connect on a trip to Istanbul, and Sammy's culinary skills impress Bette's parents, former 1960s radicals, on a Thanksgiving trip back to Poughkeepsie. Weston is tied to a wealthy socialite, and dreams of escaping the high life and opening a small restaurant. Bette, meanwhile, finds herself growing distant from Penelope and her other friends, and faces the choice of being the person she once was or the one she is becoming.
Mr. Skeffington is a 1944 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman, based on the 1940 novel of the same name by Elizabeth von Arnim.
Penelope Mary Fitzgerald was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 The Times listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Observer in 2012 placed her final novel, The Blue Flower, among "the ten best historical novels". A.S. Byatt called her, "Jane Austen’s nearest heir for precision and invention."
Riley Elizabeth Weston is an American actress and writer. Weston became embroiled in a debate about ageism in Hollywood after it was discovered that she lied about her age to get work in the entertainment industry.
Dame Anna Wintour is a British and American media executive based in New York City who has served as editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer for Condé Nast since 2020, where she oversees Condé Nast magazines worldwide, and concurrently serves as artistic director of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and dark sunglasses, Wintour is regarded as the most powerful woman in publishing and has become an important figure in the fashion world. Wintour is praised for her skill in identifying emerging fashion trends, but her reportedly aloof and demanding personality has earned her the nickname "Nuclear Wintour".
The Devil Wears Prada is a 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger about a young woman who is hired as a personal assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor, a job that becomes nightmarish as she struggles to keep up with her boss's grueling schedule and demeaning demands. It spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list and became the basis for the 2006 film of the same name, starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt. The novel is considered by many to be an example of the "chick lit" genre.
Lauren Weisberger is an American writer and author of the 2003 bestseller The Devil Wears Prada, a roman à clef of her experience as an assistant to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Weisberger worked as a writer and editor for Vogue and Departures magazines prior to authoring The Devil Wears Prada, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 2006. She has since published seven other novels.
Serena Celia van der Woodsen is a fictional character and the protagonist in the Gossip Girl novel series and in its TV adaptation, in which she is portrayed by Blake Lively. Serena is featured on the blog of the series' mysterious narrator, "Gossip Girl". Serena is known as the 'it girl of Manhattan' and is a character that appears to easily get whatever she wants because of her captivating beauty and charismatic personality. She is the daughter of a successful doctor, and a well known socialite/heiress.
Miuccia Bianchi Prada is an Italian billionaire fashion designer and businesswoman. She is the head designer of Prada and the founder of its subsidiary Miu Miu. As of October 2021, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$4.8 billion. In June 2021, Bloomberg estimated her net worth to be $6.62 billion, ranked 464th in the world.
The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 American comedy-drama film directed by David Frankel and produced by Wendy Finerman. The screenplay, written by Aline Brosh McKenna, is based on Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. The film adaptation stars Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a powerful fashion magazine editor, and Anne Hathaway as Andrea "Andy" Sachs, a college graduate who goes to New York City and lands a job as Priestly's co-assistant. Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci co-star as co-assistant Emily Charlton and art director Nigel Kipling, respectively. Simon Baker and Adrian Grenier play pivotal supporting roles.
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Envy: A Luxe Novel is the third book in The Luxe Series, a New York Times Best Selling Series by author Anna Godbersen. Published in 2009 by HarperCollins, the novel delves into the intricate relationships and societal pressures of young adults in the historical backdrop.
Katherine Hadley Betts is an American fashion journalist. Currently she is a contributing editor at Time and The Daily Beast, among other freelance writing positions, and reporting on fashion for CNN. She lives in New York with her family.
Cousin Bette is a 1998 British–American comedy-drama film starring Jessica Lange in the title role and is loosely based on the novel of the same name by the French author Honoré de Balzac.
"Petty in Pink" is the 84th episode of the CW television series, Gossip Girl and the 19th episode of the show's fourth season. The episode was written by Amanda Lasher and directed by Liz Friedlander. It originally aired on Monday, April 25, 2011 on the CW.
The Gate of Angels is a 1990 historical novel by the British author Penelope Fitzgerald. It is set in 1912 at a fictional Cambridge college, St Angelicus. The novel was shortlisted for the Booker prize.
Shaina Taub is an American singer, composer and musician.
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Like other members of the Ivy League, it is known for prestige, academic rigor and selective undergraduate admissions process. Among its peers, Brown is noted for a culture of campus activism and longstanding commitment to academic and intellectual freedom exemplified by its Open Curriculum and course "shopping period." The university has been described as the "progressive Ivy," "hip Ivy," and "creative Ivy."
Miranda Priestly is a character in Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel The Devil Wears Prada, portrayed by Meryl Streep in the 2006 film adaptation of the novel.
Anon Pls. is a novel by the pseudonymous author DeuxMoi and Jessica Goodman. The novel is a work of autofiction and a retelling of the real-life DeuxMoi Instagram account, which publishes celebrity gossip.
