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"Padma Lakshmi&amp;#x27;s already a cookbook author, the host of Top Chef, and um, a total babe. And now she&amp;#x27;s adding jewelry designer to her resume, with a line of bling that launches at Bergdorf Goodman tomorrow. She gives us the Dos and Don&amp;#x27;ts of wearing jewelry (plus plenty more juicy scoop!), after the jump. Lakshmi&amp;#x27;s new jewelry line, which hits Bergdorf Goodman and her website, www.padmalakshmi.com, tomorrow ($300 - $6,000), was heavily inspired by both her Indian heritage and her love of cooking. We chatted with the designer about her favorite heirlooms, her jewelry box must-haves, and the way to get the most chic factor from your own bling. Slaves to Fashion: How did you decide to start a jewelry line? How have your other interests (cooking etc.) served you in this new venture? Padma Lakshmi: I always custom designed pieces for myself. It&amp;amp;#8217;s a tradition in my family to have the jeweler come to the house and set the stone in front of all of us women (we&amp;amp;#8217;re a very opinionated group of women). Then I designed a mirco-collection for the show and well we started getting emails and inquiries about it. I wanted pieces that were feminine and eye-catching without being gaudy or ostentatious--many statement pieces can look like that on TV--and while the inspiration comes from classic Indian jewelry design, my work in the kitchen and as a cookbook author definitely influence the shapes we choose. I think the shapes found organically in nature are very beautiful. There is an inherent grace in the shape of a pod, a purity of form in seeds, beans, and leaves. Those elements certainly left their mark on my imagination. I also love movement and think that jewelry should highlight the best parts of a woman&amp;amp;#8217;s form. Each piece has an element of movement in it, from our pinky rings to our pod bangle to all our earrings and chains. All the pieces are designed to dance on the ear, wrist and throat, catching the light and drawing the eye to that part of the woman&amp;amp;#8217;s anatomy . STF: What was the most memorable piece of jewelry you had when you were young? Any heirlooms passed down from your family? PL: I have an old photo of me at age six with my cousin Rajni and I have a ton of jewelry on even in that photo, bangles, chains everything and we&amp;amp;#8217;re just horsing around in our underwear. I always loved my bangles, I can&amp;amp;#8217;t remember a time when I didn&amp;amp;#8217;t have a bangle on. I have a lot of traditional pieces from my mom and some lovely diamond cluster earrings which are very typically South Indian but the posts are very thick and my ears can&amp;amp;#8217;t bear the weight of them. I have some great pieces that my Aunt Neela and I designed years ago that I still love and wear. I take it all out of the safe every once in a while so we can play with them and get ideas. It&amp;amp;#8217;s gets very girly at my studio! STF: If you could only wear one piece of jewelry for the rest of your life, what would it be? PL: I think the one piece would be our long bean necklace. It&amp;#x27;s simple and looks great with anything. I gave one as a gift to Jessica Alba who I met through working with the charity Keep a Ghild Alive after her baby was born, and she said she wore it every day. That made my week. I want to make jewelry that becomes a part of the woman wearing it. STF: What&amp;amp;#8217;s the one classic accessory every woman needs in her jewelry box? PL: I think a great classic watch is the first staple every woman should invest in. We don&amp;amp;#8217;t make watches, but I do think the kind of watch a woman wears says a lot about her. Same for a man. I&amp;amp;#8217;ve always loved old watches. I have a man&amp;amp;#8217;s chunky rose gold Rolex which I love in the summer, and now in the spring I&amp;amp;#8217;m wearing a classic Reverso with a black crocodile strap. STF: Could you see yourself expanding beyond jewelry into other accessories? Clothing? PL: Well right now we&amp;amp;#8217;re having so much fun at the studio just doing jewelry and this is a whole company we&amp;amp;#8217;ve started up from scratch, not a licensing deal, so there&amp;amp;#8217;s a lot of work. Let&amp;amp;#8217;s see how it goes. But we do have dreams... STF: Do you have any rules for wearing jewelry? Can you give us your Dos and Don&amp;#x27;ts? PL: I always think that either you have to really go for it, or let one or two pieces speak for you. While I love layering and our pieces are certainly designed to be layered, most jewelry is not. I always tell women to check in a mirror before they leave the house and only wear a maximum of three pieces, including your watch. But I also must say I&amp;amp;#8217;m guilty of breaking this rule very often. I went to my cousin Rajni&amp;amp;#8217;s wedding and piled on way too much chunky silver jewelry with this stunning cobalt blue chiffon sari. Now every time we pull out those pictures, I cringe. DO store your jewelry always in separate little pouches. DO leave an inch or so out of the pouch when carrying long chains so they don&amp;amp;#8217;t get tangled when you remove them. [Um, that&amp;#x27;s GENIUS!] DON&amp;#x27;T wear jewelry that will snag your favorite dress. Delicate or thin knits, and silk and satin tend to snag, especially when cut on the bias. DO decide which you want to play up: your clothing or your jewelry, but not both. Let one be the star and one the supporting player. DON&amp;#x27;T wear loud clanging bangles at work, it&amp;#x27;s disruptive and noisy and your coworkers won&amp;amp;#8217;t appreciate it! We thought of how all the bangles would sound together when we designed the bangles for our line. Bangles should have a gentle wind-chimey tinkle, not the crash bang of a million pots and pans. DO adorn the back by wearing a necklace backwards when you have a low backed dress or one of our front-to-back necklaces. Ive always thought the back is one of the most beautiful parts of a woman. I&amp;amp;#8217;ve created four versions of the front-to-back necklace which actually gives you two necklaces in one. I love the way they swing and catch the light as a woman is walking away. You almost want to pull on it and stop her! Find out more about Padma&amp;#x27;s new jewelry line at her website, padmalakshmi.com. What do you guys think? Would you check it out? Do you follow any of Padma&amp;#x27;s rules for wearing jewels? Has she given you any new ideas? And what&amp;#x27;s the most memorable piece in your own jewelry box? Share! Add glamour.com to your Google homepage Follow Slaves to Fashion on Twitter! Photos: Shayna Fontana"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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