Priyanka Chopra Jonas Breaks Down Her Life in Looks

Hi Vogue, this is Priyanka

and this is my Life In Looks.

[upbeat music]

Aw, baby me.

This is November 30th, 2000.

I remember that because it was the Miss World finale.

It was 18-year-old me

and my life suddenly changed when I won this pageant.

And I was wearing this custom dress by Hemant Trivedi,

very prolific designer in India that used to make costumes

for all the beauty pageant contestants that went from India.

I was really honored to wear this. Funny story though.

This dress was like really deep, kind of like this.

So I had it taped all the way,

but this was like a four-hour show

and I was on stage this whole time.

Obviously in a pageant, so sweating away.

So the tape had come off.

So after I won, I m doing namaste the whole time,

but I m actually holding my dress up.

[Priyanka laughs]

Fashion.

This was 2008, around that time.

And this was one of my first like female-led movies.

I had been in movies for like four years or something.

So I was really nervous about it.

I worked on it for like six months.

My co-actors are Mugdha Godse and Kangana Ranaut,

two really, really prolific actors from India.

And, they actually won a really prestigious award

called the National Award with me for this movie.

It was just a really life-changing movie.

And I had 120 or 10 costume changes in the film

because it was like the life of this model.

And I remember that was really talked about

that I wore like 110 like outfits in this movie

because it was Fashion.

This, I m still known by this song.

So you know how in Hindi movies, we have dance songs?

So this is one of those dance songs

which was called Desi Girl, Desi Means Indian.

And basically says, who s the hottest girl in the world?

The Indian girl.

I literally am known by this name even now,

like people will write about it and call me the Desi girl.

And this sari was a Manish Malhotra custom creation.

It was like a gray silver and it was like light chiffon.

And I remember feeling just breezy and sexy in it.

I had like these fans blowing my hair

and the sari was moving.

I had this tiny waist and it was an epic song.

And it s the kind of song that s a party starter.

Hey, oh, I love this sari.

This was a Ritu Kumar sari at the Marrakesh Film Festival.

I was being honored.

I really wanted to wear like a beautiful couture piece.

And Ritu Kumar is an incredible heritage designer

that we have in India.

And the lace sleeves with the embroidery on the neck

with the lightness of the sari in the heat of the desert.

It was just the right amount of airiness that I needed.

I was really honored to be able to go to Marrakesh

and they had this like day dedicated to me.

They had this incredible square where they play movies.

I got to see like thousands

and thousands of people just watching my movies all day.

So it was really amazing to be able to take culture

and to be able to, you know,

cross-pollinate it into other countries.

I just love to be able to work now

after, you know, working in Hollywood

and I got to do incredible work

in two of the largest movie industries in the world,

you know, between Bollywood and Hollywood.

So I feel really proud about that.

[page crinkles]

Oh, this was my first Emmy s.

This was I think season one of Quantico,

which was a TV show that I did.

And I remember this was a custom Jason Wu.

I will never forget the feeling of this dress

because it was also my first Emmy s.

I was kind of feeling myself.

I was very like happy to be there.

You know, my show was successful.

I was meeting colleagues and friends

and you know, it was very like electric atmosphere.

And I remember on the carpet

just because I was like,

I may have had a glass of champagne too, slightly loose.

I was just dancing, twirling and there were so many images.

I remember the next day comparing me to the twirling emoji

that we have.

[Priyanka laughs]

The dancing girl.

I loved this dress. It was beautiful.

This was my second or first Golden Globes, I can t remember,

but I loved this dress.

It was a Ralph Lauren beautiful gold outfit

and this neckpiece that I was wearing, this huge diamond.

I love the award shows

because especially like when you re not nominated

or up for anything,

you have a good time meeting your friends and colleagues,

and presenting.

Sofia Vergara and I ended up in the same dress,

like it wasn t the same dress,

but it looked exactly the same.

We hung out, found tequila everywhere we went

and then we found Meryl Streep.

Oh, this video is really embarrassing.

It s out there somewhere,

but she and I were just really nervous

to talk to Meryl Streep

and then it was a really cute moment backstage.

So I ll always remember that

because she and I were twinning all night.

[Priyanka laughs]

This was my, I think second Oscars

and I was wearing this custom Ralph Russo.

It s also one of my favorites.

I just loved how hourglass it was.

I was at a time in my life where I was super curvalicious.

Right after Best Picture everybody rushes out

to go to the Governor s ball.

It s a bottleneck, okay.

So I was like, I m gonna get ahead of that.

I m gonna leave before Best Picture s announced,

go to the restroom, touch my face up

and then by then it s gonna be done.

I ll meet my friends and everyone

and you know, escape the bottleneck.

So I was in the bathroom

with my entire dress in a puddle

cause I had to take the whole thing off to use the restroom

and then I couldn t zip it back up myself.

Finally struggle station,

I got the zipper up

and I remember I walked backstage,

Halle Berry was standing like this-

[Priyanka gasps]

And I was like, What happened?

And she was like, Oh my gosh,

they announced the wrong movie.

And I missed history in the bathroom.

This one was my first Met Gala.

It was this Ralph Lauren look,

I think the theme was Comme des Garcon.

I like didn t say anything when it came to this.

My stylist who was Cristina Ehrlich at that time

and it just so happened

that they asked me if I would walk the carpet with Nick

cause both of us were going with the house

but except, like single, alone.

So I was like, This is random.

And I ve never done that, actually.

Like unless I m promoting a movie

or something, walked a carpet with a co-actor

and I didn t even know him.

We had, you know, randomly texted over last year

but maybe because I was curious.

I was like, Sure.

We were just supposed to walk the carpet

and then we were supposed to go our ways.

And I remember I walked in

after the carpet was done,

I took off my train and I was in that,

I had a short dress underneath.

And I remember turning around

and I was just alone in a room full of people

that I didn t know.

And I remember feeling really

like my feet were stuck to the ground.

I didn t know which direction to go in.

And all I remember is Nick just calling out my name,

handing me his hand and just pulling me in with him.

He s like, This way.

And after that, we spent the whole night together.

So, I was kind of really heady with that.

[Priyanka laughs]

Oh this was my next Met, again with Ralph Lauren.

This was Heavenly Bodies.

And I was in a really tight corset

to make my body look heavenly.

And I remember this veil was embroidered in India

and I was really proud to be wearing that.

I loved this dress, it was so pretty.

Marquesa. This was my bridal shower at Tiffany.

My gosh, this was at the Tiffany store

because my engagement ring is from Tiffany

and I had this fascination with Breakfast at Tiffany

and all of that.

It was some of my closest friends

and I remember we shut the whole thing down

and we were up to like four o clock in the morning.

Shoes were off, the feathers were everywhere.

And it was such an amazing way like to be kind of sent off.

It was really a special night.

Nick was really not someone I expected I would end up with,

but you know, he s exactly tailor made for me.

And I, that only happened

because I had myself open to the universe.

He s the best guy. What do I tell you?

Look at that. Best decision of my life.

Our wedding day.

Oh, this was such a perfect moment too.

This was Ralph Lauren of course,

because that s the reason Nick and I met

is because they asked us to go to the Met together.

This was only the fourth dress that Ralph had made

for anyone for their weddings.

And the three of them were his family.

It was such a special moment.

I remember in the atelier

with him, himself, working on the dress with me.

And I know I wanted it to have softness to it

and a grace to it, but at the same time be sort of sexy.

Ralph wanted a hundred-foot train

cause the walk in the palace to the altar was so long

and they were like, We have to fill that space up.

And I was like, I can t walk

with a hundred feet stitched to my head.

I said 50 and then we settled on 75.

So it was a 75-foot train which was stitched into my head.

We always knew that we wanted to honor both our cultures.

Like that was important to both of us.

The Hindu ceremony was Sabyasachi.

It was the first time I worked with Sabyasachi actually.

And he designed both looks for Nick and I.

And the beautiful thing about the Hindu ceremony s outfit

was I was very specific about the red I wanted.

I wanted the red to be the color of sindoor,

which is the vermilion

that Indian women wear when they get married.

And like a deep red, not too bright.

And I loved that he had French knots in his embroidery

and like European influences in like Indian silhouette,

because of our union.

I wanted a part of my mom

and my mother-in-law in both of my dresses.

So my mother-in-law s wedding veil was our pillow

on which our ring came.

And I still have that pillow.

And my mom s wedding sari was stitched onto my langa.

So it was really intentional.

It was a perfect, perfect day.

Next look. Oh my first Vogue cover.

Oh this was such a fun day. Annie is an icon.

I love her so much

and I think she just has such a point of view

and I was just happy to be there, honestly.

It was beautiful.

We were out in these fields

and I was wearing these gorgeous dresses

and it was a fun day.

This was Cannes 2019.

My stylist, Mimi Cuttrell also styled this look.

And I remember when I saw it I was like,

Oh my gosh, this dress is amazing.

And then I was like, Is it too bridal?

And then she was like, You just got married,

so it might be fine.

And I was walking with Nick

so we were just like, You know what?

Yeah that s fine. And that s the reason I wore it.

I thought it was so much fun. It was raining.

And I remember it was super romantic.

Like I said, my husband takes care of all the things.

So he pulled out an umbrella

and held it for me the whole time I walked the carpet.

How sweet. My hair was not wet at all.

[Priyanka laughs]

This was an event in Paris for Bulgari

and that necklace was ridiculous.

It s one of the most beautiful necklaces

for Bulgari I ve worn.

I walked out of the hotel in this dress

and whatever angle I stood in,

it s somehow, the frills just looked great.

Somehow they sat in a way

where your body looked amazing.

It was just the genius of the dress.

And Robert Wun does that kind of craftsmanship so well.

I love that hair and makeup too.

This was the year my daughter was born.

She was born in January and this was June, I think.

Malti Marie is always surrounded by love and family

and people who care about her.

And I m very blessed.

[pages crinkle]

Valentino, I know this.

This is Valentino, the Rome premier of Citadel.

And this fit was just amazing.

I was going after Sophia Loren s look

with the hair and like the eyes.

You know, Sophia has this trick

where she would elongate her eyes

and put like white pencil underneath.

So we did that. And this dress was just all things drama.

And I never said I m subtle. So this was great.

[Priyanka laughs]

Up my alley.

Okay, this was Amit Aggarwal.

N-M-A-C-C,

which is the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center launch

in Mumbai.

I wanted to do something which was modern

but at the same time celebrated the Indian heritage.

So Amit Aggarwal, the genius designer,

my stylist Ami Patel, they put together this idea.

So I wanted a really modern, western sort of silhouette.

And these are vintage Banarasi saris

that werestitched together to create this silhouette.

I was staying at Mrs. Ambani s house

when we were leaving her house to come to the event.

My husband was like, Let s just stop.

And we re on the Mumbai streets

and we just stopped on the streets, got into a rickshaw

and took some fun pictures together in this dress.

And I was just laughing this whole time

cause the rickshaw guy was just like,

his expression was killing me.

This one, funny story.

This was custom Del Core.

It was made specifically for this necklace.

Now this necklace is hundreds of carats of diamonds

and I wanted to really showcase the dress.

I wanted something that doesn t clash with it.

And I decided I was gonna chop off my hair that day.

And everybody talked

because I was like, This necklace is great,

it ll look great on my shoulders.

And the next day people were like, Oh my gosh.

She chopped off her hair for the necklace.

For the look. But I didn t chop off my own hair.

I put on a half wig, chopped off the wig, guys.

And everybody thought I chopped off my hair.

That was funny.

Ooh, love this outfit.

This was the Red Sea Film Festival

in 2024, actually last year.

And this was this beautiful Oscar de la Renta.

It was just cinched in.

It took two people to get me into this dress.

It was really, really sweet of SJP

to say the most amazing sweet things about me

while I was getting honored at the festival.

And just to be surrounded by these icons

and be even in their company was awesome.

And she s just really cool.

And I remember I stepped on my dress

and all the beads came off when I walked onto the carpet

and I told her, I was like, ha, ha, my dress just tore.

And she was like, Ah, it s fine. No one can see.

This was my brother s wedding.

This was a custom Manish Malhotra.

And I was dying to wear teal or blue.

I had felt like I hadn t worn this color

for a really long time.

And family weddings are crazy,

but Indian weddings are like, especially times 10 crazy.

And my mom insisted on handling all the production

of the wedding herself,

which meant I was her executive assistant.

Getting all the things together, the gifts,

the return gifts and just running around.

So I needed all my outfits to not be too heavy.

And I remember I took off the tulle from underneath this

because this was for the actual wedding.

My daughter was able to go and attend.

She was the center of attention

and we like matched all our outfits together as a family.

And all the designers I worked with,

my stylist, Ami in India, she worked with them

and really customized each look for us

as a cohesive look for the family.

It was really cheesy, I know, but I really wanted to do it.

And Malti in her little fits was just so cute.

Okay.

Ooh, all right. 2025.

This is custom Balmain styled by Mimi Cuttrell again.

That necklace is 240 something carats,

one piece of an emerald.

And we wanted to do the dress kind of

to compliment the necklace and vice versa.

The theme this year was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.

So the tailoring was really, really impeccable

in this dress.

It had three layers.

It had a train,

which I didn t even wear to come to the carpet.

I just took it off after I got outta the hotel.

It was too much, it was raining, it was a mess.

So then I had a jacket on and the jacket comes off

and then there s a dress on underneath.

So I love to simplify my outfits

by the time I get through the carpet.

The hat kept bonking my husband s head.

So he had to kind of find his way around it.

Just really funny on the carpet

cause I was like, I m so sorry.

We have this tradition from since when Malti was born.

Every time we go to the Met,

she comes in when we re getting dressed

and we always get dressed together, Nick and I.

So she s always in the room like you know,

trying on my clothes, doing hair and makeup with us

and just, you know, spending that good quality time together

before we leave.

And this time she said, she calls Nick Gaga.

So she said Mama and Gaga are going to the ball

just like Cinderella.

And she said, Mama, you look like Cinderella.

So she wore my shoes and my train and my hat and my gloves

and she was walking around everywhere in all my stuff.

She s such a little girl.

And yesterday she literally said

to my husband he was wearing a suit

and she goes, Gaga, you look like a prince.

I wanna dance with you.

And they were dancing for like 10 minutes, just dancing.

That was so cute.

I feel like I really like went through my life

and I remember a lot of things that I had forgotten.

So thank you Vogue for that.

[pen scratches]

As a life is a sum of all its moments.

Thank you for reminding me.

[Priyanka chuckles]

[upbeat music]