Padma Lakshmi: I Dress Like a 15-Year-Old!

Well, Padma, possum, you'll get no argument from us.

Talking to The New York Times, Padma admitted, “I’ve basically dressed the same since I was 15. My hemlines are a little longer now, and my budget is a little bigger.”

Remembering her hemlines last season (especially on those infamous black shorts), we can only speculate as to how much shorter they were when she was 15.

And yeehaw! Apparently, her favorite hat is a Stetson, which ought to have the mechanical bulls lining up to be ridden. But Padma actually appears to think less of urban cowboys than of patriots, dressing up, as she does, as Uncle Sam the Drag King in “a 1970s, baby-blue, pinstriped Pierre Cardin men’s suit...[worn] with a red and white necktie and a Stetson hat.”

Finally, she's glad to be filming Season 4 in Chicago, not known for its balmy Octobers, because “because I’ve run through my summer wardrobe. Now you’ll start seeing a lot of fall pieces.” You heard it first, possums. Next season, all you het boys and Sapphic sisters will get Padma the Sweater Girl.

The Umbrellas of Sheer Bourgie

It never rains but it pours, n'est-ce pas, possums? Unless, of course, you have an umbrella.

Two weeks ago we mentioned the Miami Herald report that Lady Rushdie "had someone following her with an umbrella until it was time to film." Now comes word from the other side of the pond that this is not an isolated incident.

According to the Daily Mail, "While filming [the mini-series Sharpe's Challenge] with [Sean] Bean [aka Boromir] she insisted that a crew member escort her from her trailer holding a parasol to protect her delicate skin from the sun."

The Daily Mail calls it an inflammation of "the beauty's already high-handed ways." We disagree. In fact, we're rather disappointed in this half-hearted attempt to be a diva. If you're going to do this sort of thing, you ought to insist that the parasol holders be clad only in loincloths. As the drag queens advised in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, it's what Miss Anne Baxter would do.

Under Lady Rushdie's Umbrella-Ella-Ella-Eh-Eh-Eh

Possums, as you head off for the first full weekend of summer, which may involve rain for some of you, we thought we would offer this little tidbit about Lady Rushdie, since our Padma Lakshmi Weekly Fashion Review feature seems to have been made obsolete by the fact of an actual wardrobe budget this season.

Lesley Abravanel, the nightlife columnist for the Miami Herald, was one of the guests at the "upscale barbecue" featured in this week's episode, and she had this to report:

"I just remembered something else: Padma must be a total diva because she had someone following her with an umbrella until it was time to film. I didnt see an umbrella over Gail! "

The thing is, this rather makes us like Padma more. That's the spirit, Milady!