Priyanka Chopra Explains Why Her Mom Is the Best Fashion Week Date

Seeing New York Fashion Week through the lens of Instagram can seem magical. Take, for example, Ralph Lauren’s 50th-anniversary show, which took over Central Park and filled it with fashion, live music, and plenty of A-listers. But when it comes to attending Fashion Week in real life, you are left with more pragmatic questions. Just ask Priyanka Chopra. “Okay, I seriously had a logical question,” she said in regard to the Central Park show, which she attended alongside fiancé Nick Jonas. “How did I not smell pee in Bethesda Fountain when we were eating? I’m telling you, all of us at the table were like, ‘How do we not smell pee?’”

The actress was sitting backstage at Longchamp’s runway show the following day, and the question had clearly been weighing on her. But no matter—there were greater, more magical moments to reflect on. “I mean, Oprah was at a Fashion Week,” she sighed. This afternoon’s show may not have had Oprah, but it did have Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner, and plenty of street style for Chopra to lust over. “This was amazing, too,” she added of Longchamp’s spring collection. “I loved the fringe and the prints. I love a good fringe.”

Was she making a mental note of what to add to her own shopping list for the upcoming season? “I wish I was that organized,” she said. “I just have my stylist and I’m like, ‘I need fall clothes.’ And she goes and gets them. I don’t like shopping. I hate shopping. I hate it. It’s just too much of an effort. I feel like it’s a chore. I can’t. But I love clothes, so I just magically expect them to appear. I’m awful.” As for what she hypothetically would be shopping for, Chopra said of her current fashion obsessions: “It’s a moment that I’m feeling myself right now, but I’m feeling very feminine. I’m really into dresses and skirts and satin and just feminine silhouettes.”

Of course, you can’t talk Longchamp without mentioning their famous nylon Pliage tote bags, which even Chopra owned back in the day. “I love a big bag,” she said. “I carry my life in a bag. I have a Mary Poppins bag. It has everything. Most bags don’t fit shit.” And what does a modern-day Mary Poppins keep in her bag during Fashion Week to keep sane? “I shouldn’t probably tell you that. The question was to keep sane,” she said, with a hearty laugh (interpret that how you wish). “Lip balm is extremely crucial. Hydration is extremely crucial. Mints are extremely crucial. And lipstick.”

There was also her front-row date: her mother, Madhu Chopra. “It’s so funny,” she said of her mother’s Fashion Week commentary. “She’s visiting for the week and I had all the shows this week, so I was like, ‘Do you want to come?’ She’s done India Fashion Week with me, so she’s enjoying herself and having a great time. I never get to see my family and my friends, so I just fly them over wherever I am.”

The actress would soon be making a homecoming, however, as she prepares to film the upcoming The Sky Is Pink in India this fall. It’s her first India-set movie in four years. “It was really different initially, but I’m so excited,” she said. “I haven’t been back to shoot there for a while and haven’t spoken in Hindi for awhile, so it was really exciting to do that.” The one downfall? Missing autumn in New York. “I love fall,” she said. “Luckily I do come back next month, so it still will be fall-ish.”