Let’s relive a classic scene from the 2006 movie, The Devil Wears Prada. Andie, a would-be journalist played by Anne Hathaway, has recently taken an internship at a high-end fashion magazine. Miranda, the magazine's exacting editor-in-chief (played by an inimitable Meryl Streep), is sifting through a collection of clothing for a photo shoot.

The scene begins when an assistant holds up two similar belts and says to Miranda, "They're both so different." Andie snorts, and Miranda turns suddenly to look at her.

"Something funny?" she asks.

"No, no," Andie replies. "It's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. You know, I’m still learning about this stuff, and—"

Miranda's face turns hard.

"This...stuff?" she says. "Oh, OK. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you." 

And then comes her unforgettable summary of the fashion industry:

"You…go to your closet, and you select out, I don’t know, that lumpy sweater for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. 

"But—but what you don’t know is that sweater is not just blue; it’s not turquoise; it’s not lapis; it’s actually cerulean. And you’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns, and then I think it was Yves St. Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets… And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores, and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you no doubt fished it out of some clearance bin.  

"However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it’s sort of comical how you think you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when in fact you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."

I never tire of Streep’s perfectly inflected riff on Anna Wintour, at that time the editor-in-chief of Vogue. Miranda Priestley, Streep’s character in the movie, embodied the power held by a cabal of critics, designers, and editors over everything from hemline and fit to fabric and color.  

But that was so 2006.

That same year, according to The New York Times, one Sophia Amoruso "was a 22-year-old community college dropout, living in her step-aunt’s cottage, working at an art school checking student IDs for $13 an hour. Then she started a side project, Nasty Gal, an eBay page that sold vintage women’s clothing." Soon, she moved off eBay to her own online outlet marketed through social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr. By 2012, Nasty Gal had revenues of $100 million and attracted six million visits per month. It was profitable from Day One.  

Or consider Michelle Phan. She learned about makeup by helping out at her mom’s nail business, and then made a splash thanks to YouTube stardom (here and here) with videos that show how to use makeup and fashion to achieve certain looks. She now has 7 million followers, and was recently signed by L’Oreal and Lancome as a spokesperson. Bethany Mota, also made famous by YouTube, is also coming up fast.

Today’s reality is that homespun bloggers and entrepreneurs like Ms. Phan and Ms. Amoruso are more important at driving fashion — particularly among millennials —than the editor in chief of Vogue.  

Dave Hawley of SocialChorus, quoted in PRNewser, explained that “Millennials typically don’t trust institutions or corporations unless their trust is earned… Stereotypes aside, they’re also a socially conscious group, and they want to associate with those whom they perceive to be the ‘good guys.’”   Vogue is apparently no longer in vogue. 

He goes on: "On the other hand, millennials are extremely focused on peer affirmation, so a marketing strategy that leverages social media influencers and peer groups can be highly effective."

If you want to see where "peer affirmation" is heading, join Gerry DeVeaux, host of Britain’s “Next Top Model,” and me at Dreamforce. We’ll demonstrate a never-before-seen technology, developed by Tata Communications and powered by Salesforce, called The Magic Mirror. (Yes, there will be a runway. And models.) 

Our panelists: 

April Anderson, Director of Industry, Retail, Google

Lee Anne Grant, Retail Vice President, PopSugar

Pehr Luedtke, CEO, SpotZot, former CEO PowerReviews (BizarreVoice)

June Sarpong, United Nations Ambassador, Fashion

Jake Wall, Chief Creative Officer, Artful Gentleman

See you there!