In "The Devil Wears Prada", opening in cinemas today, fashion assistant Andrea is run off her high heels doing errands for her demonic boss at a prestigious New York fashion magazine.

That aside, the movie - and the best-selling book it's based on - portray the fashion publishing trade as pretty glamorous.

But it just ain't so - at least if you have a snoop around the Thai fashion mags.

"Most of our trainees have told me that working at a fashion magazine isn't as glamorous as they thought it would be," says one insider called "Pim".

"The fact is, you really have to work hard here!"

In the film, as well, Andrea has to dress to kill as she competes with a model look-alike. She struts around in Calvin Klein, Manolo Blahnik and, yes, Prada.

Maybe that's the way things go in New York, but here the magazine staffs tend to shun brand names.

"We only dress up when clients come in or when we have to attend a social gathering," says "Ploi", an assistant at a leading fashion publication. "In the office we usually dress freestyle. We wear brand-name items, but not from head to toe.

"I have heard that at some leading magazines in Singapore the staff really compete with each other fashion-wise - they don't even wear the same outfits twice."

A Thai newspaper reporter visiting Singapore recalls being offered the loan of some clothes by a journalist there. The Thai wasn't "dressy" enough; the Singaporean walked like a model and was model-thin.

It wasn't a great deal of consolation when a fellow Thai remarked as the Singaporean strode off, "She's trying way too hard."

For all our comparative humbleness, there are those who feel the folks working for Thai fashion magazines are snobs.

"They dress like the teenagers in Siam Square," grumbles one observer, referring to Bangkok's togs-trend factory.

A public-relations agent who works in the fashion business says he's felt the sting of "the look", that withering assessment of one's attire choices.

"There have been times when a fashion editor has looked at me from head to toe - it makes you very uncomfortable."

Some people who work at fashion mags feel they've been divinely chosen to dress ultra-chic, and if you don't match their standard when you show up at a fashion event, you deserve every nasty look you get.

"If you're meeting us, we expect you to wear something decent that's suitable to the occasion," an editor said at a recent seminar on how to avoid looking like beach seaweed.

That seems fair enough, and Ploi says she'd only get miffed if we came to a red-theme party wearing green.

Is there anyone in Thailand like Miranda, the boss from hell played by Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada"?

Well, there are some fashion editors here who have a ... reputation.

"There was one who'd force her employees to buy designer handbags just to uphold the magazine's esteem," says "Kat", who long ago fled the scene. "If they didn't have the money, she'd give them her credit card and tell them to pay back her back later!"

What about the "Paranoid Turnaround"? In the film, magazine staffers get this horrified expression on their face when they realise they've made a mistake that could bring down the fearsome boss' wrath.

"It's rubbish," says Kullawit "Ford" Laosuksri, editor-in-chief of Elle magazine's Thai edition, who wrote the preface to the Thai translation of the book.

"I don't abuse my power with employees. The only thing I expect is for them to work and meet the deadlines."

Nor are you expected to be slim. Andrea is forever getting dirty looks from colleagues because she prefers to eat rather than starve.

Most fashion editors prefer staff to dress well and according to their body type.

"If you're slim you look better in clothes," says Lips beauty columnist Appichade Mahikote, "but you also have to look at what types of clothes are best for your body shape."

Lisnaree Vichitsorasatra

The Nation