Camera shutters click furiously as paparazzi shout: "Vanessa! Vanessa, over here!" when singer and actress Vanessa Williams steps into the spotlight just before Pamella Roland's fashion show at the famous Rainbow Room, on the 65th storey of the Rockefeller Center in New York. Vanessa, wearing a bejewelled pink Roland suit, is flanked by Georgie Buckland and Amy Di Bartolomeo (also decked out in head-turning numbers by Pamella), the young actresses who play her assistants in the forthcoming stage production of The Devil Wears Prada : The Musical. The biggest debut in London's West End this season, with new songs by Sir Elton John – finds Vanessa stepping into the well-heeled shoes of Runway editor Miranda Priestly – played by Meryl Streep in the 2006 film – wearing one glittery show-stopper after another by her longtime friend Pamella.
"Yes, it's a musical, but I wanted to make sure there was a legitimate, couture fashion element – that was really important to me," says Vanessa when she and Pamella sit down to talk to HELLO! shortly before the fashion show. In contrast to Meryl's outfits in the movie, created by Patricia Field: "Now, it's Vanessa's look. It's nothing like the movie.
They're more dramatic," Pamella says. Some of the 11 numbers donned by Vanessa in the show come from the designer's archives; there are also brand-new pieces inspired by suits and gowns seen on the runway in recent years, and even originals from Pamella's own walk-in closet in Grand Rapids,.