Priyanka Chopra recalls piercing her belly button in the back of a cab, says she wasn’t a ‘fashion girl’ growing up: ‘I was that quintessential 90s girl’

Priyanka Chopra reveals her fashion hacks

The host also brought up a moment from Priyanka’s Miss World 2000 journey, when she used a “namaste” gesture to discreetly hold her gown in place on stage. Asked if she had other such quick fixes for fashion emergencies, Priyanka shared a few of her go-to hacks. “Chewing gum to hold my shirt together just for a quick photo moment,” she said. “Once when I was getting out of my car and going in, my shirt was separating, so I just put gum on it and it held together.”

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She added that even a simple band-aid can work as a substitute for fashion tape. “If you don’t have double-sided tape, take a band-aid and make it into a circle.”

Piercing belly button in the back of a cab

Despite being known for her red carpet appearances today, Priyanka said she did not grow up with a strong connection to fashion. “I wasn’t really a fashion girl. I didn’t grow up knowing or having any relationship with fashion, but I did have a relationship with style,” she said.

“I loved dressing myself and I knew what silhouettes worked for me.” She also recalled her teenage style in the 1990s. “In the ’90s in high school, I was that quintessential ’90s girl — flared jeans, a pierced belly button and crop tops.”
Priyanka even revealed the unconventional way she once re-pierced her belly button. “I re-pierced my belly button in the back of a cab,” she said. “That’s what we used to do back then.”

Priyanka on her pageant experience

“When I went for the Miss India pageant, I had never modelled before. It was the first time I was modelling, walking the runway and going toe-to-toe with all these models who had so much experience,” she said. Priyanka explained that she was barely 17 or 18 at the time and suddenly found herself navigating a completely unfamiliar world.

“I was a teenager from a small town, so it was a massive transformational change for a young girl who didn’t know what the industry was like and suddenly found herself in the limelight,” she said. According to the actor, the pressure of competing in a pageant meant she had to grow up very quickly. “I learned fast. I had to grow up quickly because in a pageant you’re not supposed to make any mistakes. You’re expected to do everything perfectly, to be eloquent and well-spoken. So I immediately tried to become the best version of myself. Everyone around me was so polished.”

She also spoke about competing at the Miss World pageant in the UK and how different the cultural environment felt compared to what she had known before. “The Miss World pageant I attended was in the UK, and it was very different from how America views its pageants. It was culturally different too. I grew up really fast and learned how to ‘fake it till you make it’ sometimes. That was the only way to not look like I was dying inside in front of millions of people.”

Priyanka explained the mindset by describing what it feels like to walk into a room where you feel out of place.
“Sometimes when you walk into a room and it feels tough, you have to give yourself a talk and say: you either belong in this room and people will see you, or you will be invisible. And both are fine — but you have to decide which side of the room you want to be on.”