Padma Lakshmi is in the middle of a career resurgence. Not that she ever really went away. The longtime host announced she was exiting Top Chef about a year ago at this point to focus more on her Hulu series Taste the Nation. But she’s also expanding her work with a new lingerie line that she says she made so women could “feel sexy and pretty and confident.”
Padma x Bare Necessities is a step in the new direction for the former Top Chef host, but it’s one she feels extremely passionate about. The 19-piece capsule collection features items like bras, undies and even swimwear, and while its not available to purchase yet, you can check out the looks. She told People she hoped the designs would be sexy but comfortable, too, as that’s how she lives her own life.
I wanted to design a line that made women feel sexy and pretty and confident. Whether they were alone in their dressing room or if they were with somebody else and wanted to look a little extra special. It's a very intimate article of clothing. I'm talking directly to women who have the same needs that I do. We all want to feel attractive. We all want to be comfortable.
Padma has been someone who has been honest about wanting to feel attractive and comfortable in her own skin. She’s clapped back at trolls multiple times when they took some shots at her Sports Illustrated bikini pics and she’s openly shared the “bath picnics” she likes to take as a leisure activity. She’s been unafraid and unapologetic about dressing and behaving the way she wants as a woman in her fifties.
So when it came to her Bare Necessities line, she had one big stipulation about the photo shoot. She wanted to look exactly as she looks and not airbrush out her flaws.
I said ‘Don't take out my scar, and don't take out my inoculation mark, and do not take out the stretch marks on my thigh and bottom, because I have them. I wouldn't change having that body and that resume of that 23-year-old, with having the resume I do at 53 with the body of a 53-year-old. I would much rather stay right where I am. I think that's really important to tell girls and young women. But that's really what gave me confidence.
She joins a long line of women who have really been putting themselves out there as they’ve grown and aged in Hollywood. Martha Stewart joined the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue the same year Padma did. Christie Brinkley still celebrates her body and treating it right even after hitting the big 7-0 milestone. It's been an important mission for these women to push back on societal expectations about aging, and championing that even further with a new line seems like a great next step for the TV host.
