She-Devil

Rumor has it that Vogue Editor in Chief Anna "Nuclear" Wintour is looking for a new assistant. The position is one of the most sought-after jobs for fashionistas-in-training, but after reading The Devil Wears Prada, a dishy roman à clefwritten by Wintour's one-time assistant Lauren Weisberger, masochists might be the only ones brave enough to apply.

That's because life's a bitch -- and, apparently, so are the editors at the top style bibles. Sure, there are perks to working for the Bill Gates of haute couture: Manolo Blahnik sample sales, A-list parties, and trips to Paris for the fashion shows, to name a few. But even these bonuses aren't enough to make up for the boss from hell, like Weisberger's fictional editrix Miranda Priestly. Priestly's victim is fresh-faced newbie Andrea Sachs, who lands her first job out of college working for the most powerful woman in fashion at Runwaymagazine. Faced with stick-thin, designer-clad colleagues, Sachs is out of her element from the get-go: She shows up at work in Gap and Banana Republic basics -- how dare she! Her duties run the gamut, from answering the phone and making dinner reservations to serving Priestly a specially prepared breakfast of bacon and eggs, sorting dirty laundry, and sending embargoed copies of the latest Harry Potter novel via private jet to her boss' kids in Paris.

Though Weisberger has insisted in various interviews that Priestly isn't modeled after Wintour and that the book isn't an exposé of her time working at Vogue -- no, no, it's a tale all working women will be able to relate to -- there's no denying the element of truth to many of her yarns. (Some parts, on the other hand, seem too incredible to believe: Wintour eating bacon and eggs? Fat chance.) Either way, Weisberger gets the last laugh: She reportedly sold her manuscript for six figures, and Fox Searchlight Pictures has already bought Devil's movie rights. Ain't that a bitch.