Padma Lakshmi On Food And Fashion

From hosting the Emmy-winning series Top Chef to revealing the untold food narratives across the country in Taste the Nation to authoring books about food, as she’s done six times now—most recently with her first children’s book, Tomatoes for Neela—Padma Lakshmi has carved a name for herself as one of the country’s most beloved food experts. More often overlooked, however, is the culinary trailblazer’s relationship to fashion—it’s where she got her start after all.

During her senior year in college, Lakshmi was spotted by high-fashion photographer Helmut Newton, who found her unique for a scar on her right arm from a traumatic car accident when she was 14 years old. Lakshmi would spend the next several years modelling in Europe before transitioning to television in the late 1990s.

In the two decades since, she’s risen to culinary stardom. Yet fashion remains close to her heart. It’s why the Emmy-nominated TV host is partnering with Madewell for their latest “What Are You Made Of” Spring 2022 campaign. Recognizing that food is as much a form of self-expression as fashion, Madewell is using the campaign to profile Lakshmi, Sohla El-Waylly and Antoni Porowski—three creatives for whom good taste is as much cultivated in the closet as it is in the kitchen. 

While food and fashion both serve as forms of creative expression, they also face many of the same issues at the industry level—namely, cultural appropriation and a lack of diverse representation. Becoming increasingly outspoken on political issues in recent years (she’s a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNDP and Artist Ambassador for the ACLU), Lakshmi doesn’t shy away from voicing her opinion on how both the food and fashion industry can do better.

In this exclusive for Forbes, the model-turned-food-expert shares her hot takes on food and fashion, and how the two intersect in her life.

When you were growing up and in your early twenties as a model, who did you look up to in the fashion world? Did you see yourself represented?

When I was growing up as a child, I really didn’t have people who looked like me on the cover of magazines. I remember seeing a Glamour magazine cover with Beverly Johnson and she was the only one who kind of had my skin colour.

Then, in my twenties, the only model that I saw who was Indian was Yasmeen Gharui. Otherwise, there were no Indian supermodels. Not even Indian, just Asian you know?

Do you think the fashion industry has improved in terms of representation?

It is getting better. I think under Radhika Jones, the covers of Vanity Fair have been looking a lot more diverse. The other magazines can do even better.

I also think that magazines can do better as far as not being ageist. It’s easy to look good in your twenties. I’d like to see Helen Mirren or Viola Davis on the cover of Vogue. I’d love to see Susan Sarandon on the cover of a magazine, or Vanessa Williams, who is a great beauty. 

Agreed, we see the ageism too in the beauty industry’s obsession with ‘anti-aging.’

I do feel that a lot. There was a beauty brand that wanted me to work with them and I said I’m not interested. I said, “your products are actually pretty good but they all say ‘anti-aging’ on them, I don’t want to feel bad about myself when I reach for my cream.”

I feel better at this age than I have at any age prior. I don’t mind being my age. I’ve taken really good care of my skin: I don’t worship the sun, I try to get facials regularly and eat really well and take my vitamins. I honestly feel much better about myself now than I did as a lingerie model at 25. I’m 51 years old. That’s the average age of a CEO in this country.

The culinary world has had a social justice reckoning over the past two years, do you think fashion brands are similarly making meaningful efforts towards inclusivity or are they just performative?

I don’t know if it’s performative or not. I think the fashion world is the business world. They’ll do whatever their customer wants them to do because their business depends on them, it’s that simple.

I do think fashion brands have become a lot more inclusive, as well as with the size of the models they use. I was happy when I did my Madewell fitting to see how ample all the jeans were, and how forgiving they were for different body types.

There has been a lot of discussion about authenticity and cultural appropriation when it comes to food, but we see the same borrowing from ancient cultural practices in fashion, wellness and beauty too—from yoga to hair-oiling. How do you feel about this, do you consider it cultural appropriation? 

I consider it appropriation when credit is not given to the original source material. If I relate it to the food world, I cook all types of food—I cook Greek food, Italian food, Moroccan food, Mexican food, Indian food—I don’t eat the same thing all the time. I don’t want just Indian people to enjoy Indian food, I want everyone to enjoy Indian food and discover it.

I feel the same way about Ayurveda or yoga or beautiful textiles, fabrics and jewellery from around the world. The problem comes when you utilize these ancient methods, design patterns or ingredients and you don’t acknowledge the heritage that comes with it.

The problem isn’t that everyone needs to keep themselves and have their hands off anything that they weren’t born around. The problem is when you pretend that you’re the first person in the world who has ever thought of this.

I can only speak for myself, but with fashion for instance, when I see white women wearing saris I think they look beautiful. I’m not like “why is she wearing my culture’s clothing?” It’s obvious it’s an Indian sari.

Now, if it’s a bindi, people have to understand what the significance of things are. There are millions of women in India who don’t wear bindis because they’re Christian, Muslim or Jewish. The bindis is a sign of being a Hindu women. People think it’s some kind of adornment to wear to Coachella and it’s not, it’s a religious symbol that has a particular significance. As pretty as it is, it is—at its core—a religious symbol, so you need to know that wearing a bindi on your head is the equivalent of wearing a cross on your neck, for us.

How does your cultural background inform the way you dress, if at all?

My Indian heritage very strongly affects my fashion sense. A lot of my jewellery and accessories are from India, so are all my beautiful embroidered cashmere shawls. A lot of the fabrics I’m attracted to, not only in fashion but in home décor, come from the East—whether they’re tabletop items made of glass from Turkey or from farther east. I’m very connected to my heritage both in every other way but also through my taste and tendencies in the way I dress.

Where do food and fashion intersect for you, are there similarities in the role both play in your life?

I don’t approach fashion any differently than I approach food. Obviously food is much more approachable because it’s a daily experience for all of us, but both are creative pursuits. I approach them both the same way—with creativity and fun, I enjoy both of them a lot. I like fashion like I like my food—effortless.