Between Ebb & Courage - The Devil Wears Fast Fashion

The Devil Wears Prada 2: why the fashion world still inspires me and why it is also part of the problem. All of our problem.

On Tuesday, I watched "The Devil Wears Prada 2" with my sister at the cinema, and honestly, I absolutely loved the movie. I think they managed to seamlessly pick up from the first film 20 years ago. The characters still feel the same. Miranda, Andy, and that whole world haven't lost their character, and yet the film was developed further in a modern way, with current topics, current tensions, and current dynamics. Not 100% in all aspects, but they made an effort. For me, it's one of the few movies where part 2 was really good!

 

 

And at the same time, the film also made me thoughtful.

Because something was missing. Namely, the idea of sustainability. This dark side of the fashion industry. Fast fashion, microplastics, overproduction, and the question of what responsibility this industry actually bears today. I briefly considered whether it's enough that it's high and not low fashion. My answer: No!

And that's exactly what I found interesting, because the fashion world in the film is still primarily depicted as a glamorous, creative, and fast-paced world, without really showing what impact this fast pace now has on our environment. The fashion industry today is no longer just inspiration, art, and aesthetics. It is also one of the industries that contribute massively to environmental pollution. This includes the big brands that are role models for many smaller ones, with tons of clothing, synthetic fabrics, and a throwaway mentality. Trends change much faster than seasons, even if a piece of clothing from Dior or Prada costs many times what most people can afford.

 

 

And honestly, I never thought about that myself before founding Bracenet.

Because I always found this world fascinating. This creative positive energy. People who are completely absorbed in their work, in shoots, productions, and exciting ideas. Deadlines, quick thinking, and making everything possible, no matter how tight the timing. The permanent pressure to create constantly kicks in with dopamine highs. And even though I never knew much about fashion, this distant world impressed me a lot back then.

I worked in Art Buying at Jung von Matt and BBDO. For many, Art Buying sounds abstract at first, but it actually means building and supervising creative productions. I selected photographers, directed productions, found locations, assembled teams, set timings, supervised international shoots, co-created campaigns, and coordinated parts of the entire creative implementation behind them. This allowed me to co-manage high-fashion campaign shoots worldwide and work for clients like Saks Fifth Avenue, Breuninger, Douglas, and other major brands.

And that's precisely how you gain an extremely deep insight into how this industry works. How fast-paced it is. How communication functions. How trends and the final images are created. How much work really goes into individual campaigns, but also how often images and worlds are created that later have little or even nothing to do with reality. Advertising and fashion work with our deepest desires and emotions. With aesthetics and an idealized world. How do we want to be and what roles can, should, or do we want to slip into. And honestly, I loved this world back then. It was my absolute dream job, where I also met my husband and co-founder Benjamin. At the coffee machine at Jung von Matt, because we never left the agency.

In the first 1.5 years after completing two apprenticeships, I worked for 500 Euros a month, 60, 70, sometimes over 80 hours a week, and I still loved it. Not because of the money (there wasn't any) or status (not for a long time), but because I could be creative, and the "castle in the air" machine gave me this great feeling of being part of it. Understanding why images work, why colors trigger emotions, why some campaigns touch people and others are completely forgotten, did something to me.

And in retrospect, it was precisely these strenuous years that gave Benjamin and me the skills to build a company. How do we tell our story? How do we create attention out of nothing? How do you get people to even engage with a topic?

And yet, to this day, I remember my last big meeting at BBDO. That was truly the one moment that changed something for me. We sat with about twelve people in a conference room. New York and Düsseldorf connected, and some other location too. The client was a huge electronics manufacturer, and we discussed for almost two hours whether the soup on the stove in an advertisement should be more orange or more red. And of course, that had its justification from the client's perspective. I truly believe that. Precisely such details make brands recognizable in the end. This understanding also helps us today to comprehend why visual worlds are important. Why colors must be consistent. Why brands connect with people emotionally. Even if I believe today that the authenticity and true actions of a company are much more essential.

But at some point in that meeting, I suddenly thought:

This cannot possibly be my life's purpose.

While we were building Bracenet in parallel, after this meeting, during my lunch break, I saw dead whales in nets. At that time, we were already collecting large quantities of fishing nets and talking to many NGOs about issues that have a real impact on all of us. And I realized more and more that I no longer wanted to use my creativity to sell things more beautifully, but rather to make things visible that often no one else wants to see. We had the complete opposite of the jobs we were living. And perhaps that's why "The Devil Wears Prada 2" preoccupied me so much. Because this world still inspires me, and at the same time, I see it much more critically today than before. And that's precisely why I now love fashion brands that try to do things differently. Brands that show that fashion and responsibility don't have to be mutually exclusive.

For example, the film also made me think of people I got to know through my participation as Miss Germany Founder. Women like Jana Heinemann with her brand IMPARI, who works with recycled PET materials and truly rethinks high fashion and sustainability.

Or Madeleine Darya Alizadeh, who produces her brand dariadéh fairly in Portugal and pays strict attention to how and under what conditions production takes place. She makes clothes combinable and no longer thinks of a wardrobe in terms of individual pieces. And it is precisely such founders who are visionaries and a true inspiration to me. Because they don't take the easiest path and are truly brave. Exposing yourself to public pressure, incurring higher costs, and truly living sustainability with all its challenges – that's intense! That requires a completely different kind of perseverance, especially in 2026.

Our core values align, and for every project, this is more important to us than gaining visibility through mass sales or giving companies a greenwash through collaborations that they don't actually deserve.

We are not looking for the easiest solution.
But the best!

 

And the best solution is rarely the most comfortable and certainly not the quickest.

The best solution means questioning supply chains to the end and checking them yourself. Building productions that work fairly, finding real solutions that may not have existed before, and convincing customers to invest their already scarce money in a company built with passion. And perhaps that's why, behind many sustainable brands, you see people who are completely absorbed in their work and don't have to fake anything. Because you don't take such paths if you just want to make money as quickly as possible. You take them because you know that business can function differently. And perhaps that is exactly the development that the fashion world is still missing today.

Not less creativity, not less aesthetics, not less fashion, but more responsibility for what we are actually saying with it. Because fashion has always been communication. You don't take anything away, but rather you charge the clothes you wear with a story. You can not only feel pride, but also wear it.

For us, this is not a question, which is why you are reading this text, which I am now finishing at 01:35. Good night and thank you for taking the time to read my "late night thoughts."

Your Madeleine