Padma Lakshmi's HSN Collection is Inspired By Nature, Food

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Padma Lakshmi will be launching a new affordable jewelry line with HSN called PL by Padma Lakshmi late in March. We were given the chance to preview all of the glittering pieces and speak with the Top Chef host about the collection, which she tells us was inspired by nature and its organic shapes. The line ranges in price from $16 to $90, and includes earrings, necklaces, and bracelets in different styles designed to easily transition from day to night.—Lauren D. Shinn

You must be so stoked about this new line!
Yes, I am! I love that it's accessible to more people, and the pieces are just so sexy.

Is there any one piece you're most excited about?
Well, I'm really bold in my jewelry choices, so I love this bracelet [points to a thick cuff with magnetic clasps] because it's so bold and sexy. But as for the most versatile, I think everybody will love the necklaces, which can be worn in several ways—around the back, in a Y-shape, doubled, single-strand, as a belt, and more. And everything is under $90.

I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't love that. Care to share where you drew inspiration for the pieces this year?
The entire collection is a direct descendent of my fine line, so you can clearly see the brand DNA in all of the items. I was just excited to be able to offer a greater number of people access to my jewelry; the fine line was really expensive because of the real gold and everything, and we couldn't do anything of this scale before. I was also heavily inspired by nature and organic shapes. One of the earrings, for instance, was inspired by my love of the pattern and shape of the feathers on the body of an owl.

So, other than the affordability of the line, how is this collection different from your past jewelry collections?
Oh, it's much, much larger in scale! It's so much larger in scale. This range and diversity just wasn't possible in previous collections.

I know that some of your pieces in the past were inspired by spices. You mentioned nature and animals, but are there any food-inspired pieces in this collection?
Yes! You can see that a lot of the organic shapes I mentioned earlier also look like seeds and leaves, and dangle so sexily off the pieces.

Speaking of food, do you ever get sick of people asking you if you gain weight during the Top Chef taping season?
No, 'cause I do. I gain, like, 15 lbs. in 6 weeks, and then it takes me 12 to 14 weeks to lose it.