People go wild over Anna Wintour’s ex-assistant Plum Sykes who inspired beloved The Devil Wears Prada character

With her razor-sharp wit and impeccable fashion sense, Emily Blunt’s character from The Devil Wears Prada captured hearts and instilled fear. But did you know she’s apparently based on a real person?

Victoria ‘Plum’ Skyes, now 54, is a British journalist and author who worked as an assistant to Anna Wintour and as a fashion journalist at American Vogue in the 1990s and early 2000s.

With an aristocratic background and Oxford education, Sykes became a fixture on the New York fashion scene after arriving in 1997. She recently caught the attention of users on X, formerly Twitter, when a resurfaced clip of her went viral.

Sykes’ video from the 2000 BBC One documentary Boss Woman, which chronicled Wintour and the making of the February issue, has captivated viewers on social media. The video sees Sykes, then in her late 20s, describing a look she wore to the office.

“The clothes that people wear here during the day are probably the clothes that normal people would wear on their most glamorous night out of the year,” the Wives Like Us author says in a posh British accent as she shows off her designer outfit of a sleeveless white top, a long floral chiffon skirt, black tights and black heels.

“Who would wear a Dolce and Gabbana chiffon skirt to the office?” she asks, standing up to show off her stylish outfit to the cameraman.

“Just me,” she answers confidently. “Or someone who works at Vogue.”

Her dedication and down-to-earth attitude have caught the attention of social media users, who are eager to discover that Emily exists in real life.

The description of her outfit – which Sykes considered highly unusual at the time – sparked a discussion about her chic but simple outfit, which you might still see in the office in 2024, but in 1999 it wasn’t the norm.

“Yes, a chiffon skirt and a casual top are common work attire you can find at TJ Maxx in 2024. I remember in 1999, work attire for women was basically a pantsuit or a pencil skirt and blazer. Sorry, but again, the devil wears Prada is right,” one user commented.

“There are so many kids here who are too young to remember when EVERYONE wore a suit and blazer to the office until recently,” said another.

‘Some people were right about her clothes and how basic they look. It’s literally because people like her in the upper echelons of the fashion world normalized it for the rest of us regular folk,’ someone else noted.

Others criticized the cost of her outfits.

“Plum Sykes is just referring to the price tag. She thinks she’s better than everyone else because she wears expensive clothes to the office. Not because they’re particularly fashionable,” someone explained.

The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger, who was also a former assistant to Wintour, reportedly used Sykes as inspiration for Emily, the assistant to the fearsome editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly, according to Marie Claire.

The book was a huge success and was made into a film in 2006 starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt.

Her dedication and no-nonsense attitude have caught the attention of social media users, who were thrilled to discover that Emily exists in real life

Victoria ‘Plum’ Skyes, 54, is a British journalist and author who worked as an assistant to Anna Wintour and a fashion writer at American Vogue in the 1990s and early 2000s (pictured in 2024)

Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada

The character Emily in the film, played by Emily Blunt (pictured), is said to have been inspired by Sykes

The viral clip has sparked a wave of debate over office attire and a secret 1916 treaty between the UK and France

The fashion journalist’s surname also piqued the interest of observant social media users, revealing that her great-grandfather was Mark Sykes, a British diplomat who drafted the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916.

The agreement, which was secretly negotiated between Britain and France after World War I, was the post-war division of land in the Arab Middle East, effectively creating the modern Middle East. It created conflicts over borders in the area that changed, ignoring ethnic or cultural regions that already existed.

“I keep seeing this video on my TL. This woman’s great grandfather was Mark Sykes, who drafted the Sykes Picot Agreement,” one user posted on X.

“A secret 1916 plan between the British and French that divided the Middle East into borders that guaranteed continued conflict in favor of British oil production,” the user retweeted the clip.

‘The Plum Sykes thing underlines current twitter 1. The bit (the devil wears Prada scene, really!) 2. The subject line expects people to have their say (look at her! In 1999!) 3. Sociopolitical implications you could never have dreamed of (Sykes-Picot agreement in the Middle East)’, another noted.

Sykes currently lives in the Cotswolds with her husband, British entrepreneur Toby Rowland, and their two daughters: Ursula, 18, and Tess, 13.