Preparation
Beauty and fashion were Lakshmi’s bread and butter when she was a model in the 1990s, a career she embarked on to pay off her college loans. But food—real food—was her first love. A native of Chennai, India, who moved to the U.S. at age 4, she started collecting cookbooks in her teens, and spent her free time in the kitchen during her modeling days.
She’s since served as producer and host of Bravo’s Top Chef, now in its 19th season, written five books, and created Taste the Nation, her documentary series for Hulu that explores America’s rich culinary culture (she’s 14 episodes in, with a new season due out this fall). With all that, as well as raising her 12-year-old daughter, Krishna, who is also her trusty TikTok collaborator, Lakshmi doesn’t have a lot of time for primping. “My style mantra these days is, ‘Hurry up, it doesn’t matter,’” she says.
Fittingly, the accessory she’s most known for is her aviator frames, which have brought comparisons to Gloria Steinem’s style in the 1970s—a high compliment. “I remind myself that it doesn’t matter what you wear, but what you do, say, and write,” she says. “At this point in my life, I’m more concerned about being productive than achieving a look.”
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