Priyanka Chopra Was Scared to Try This Trend. Now, She Can't Stop Wearing It.

POPSUGAR: Why was it important for you to accept the role of keynote speaker for the Marshalls Good Stuff Social Club?

Priyanka Chopra: Given everything that's going on in the world, we should always make time to build community and create safe spaces. The whole idea of the the Good Stuff Social Club is to build bridges instead of walls — instead of building barriers, bring people together. Being able to uplift women's dreams and aspirations and to amplify their voices with a mighty company like Marshalls behind it will help to rewrite the script. It's an amazing example of good work being done by a company that literally stands for it. For a very long time, women have been herded in directions. For example, the technology that we are consuming is mostly designed by men. We need so many more women in tech, and we see that happening now with women coming into coding.

PS: Do you feel like being the face of "getting the good stuff" comes with any pressure?

PC: No. In fact, I think it's the opposite. I think that what I truly love about this activation is that it's not about my face or one face or one voice. It's about actually coming together and empowering each other in every single thing that we all want, whether it's collective or whether it's individual. All women have their own unique challenges and obstacles, and I think this is an environment to be each other's cheerleaders. This is just me talking about my experiences and engaging in empowering conversation with amazing women that will be present in the room.

PS: What do you put on when you want to feel like your most confident self?

PC: When you're feeling yourself and you're confident and you feel like you're looking your best, you tend to show off a little bit more and wear flashy clothes. And then there are days where you're not. Maybe you're internally feeling conflicted or having a bad day and you want to just hide yourself under sweats and wear a hat. So, both those outfits make me feel good.

The beauty about fashion is that you have to remember to allow yourself to wear what you're feeling and what you need, versus following what you think you're supposed to wear — because that's when it goes wrong. I think fashion can be such an incredible expression of style, which is inherent. It doesn't matter what's on trend — you have to create the trend for yourself by allowing yourself to feel how you're feeling. There are times when I want to wear my most comfortable sweatsuit and I don't have the luxury of it, because my job requires me to wear something that's completely opposite of what I might be feeling. And that's totally fine too, because I create space in my life for me to be able to wear my attitude, which could be good, bad, or ugly.

I have my uniform — my go-to outfits that I wear when I'm not required to be on camera or when there's no pressure on me. There are a a pair of sweats, crop top, and crop sweatshirt I wear from Joah Brown that I love.

PS: Have you tried out a trend or specific look in recent history that surprised you, whether good or bad?

PC: I was training for a movie recently, and I had a reintroduction with my abs after a long time. I hadn't been confident about wearing crop tops and stuff like that. I was going to a public place, and I remember I wore a crop top and skirt, and I was really nervous about it. I was like, "Oh man, I'm not going to be comfortable sitting," and all those things that you think about when you're wearing a crop top. But I felt good because I felt healthy, confident, and fit, and I was really surprised. I wasn't sure when I was walking out the door, but I was like, "Alright, I'm going to push myself." And then eventually I turned around and added that into my wardrobe a lot more.

PS: What would you say to someone who doesn't have as much experience mustering up the confidence to walk outside in an unfamiliar look?

PC: It has to be your version of it. My version of it was this experience. Confidence is about how you carry yourself once you let fashion resonate with how you're feeling and you find your mode of self-expression. If confidence was tangible, your outfit would be that. It's like wearing your confidence on the outside. So ask yourself what you want to achieve today — whether you have a job interview or you're just going to work and doing your hair differently or maybe trying a different hat.

I wasn't a hat person for the longest time, and then I was just like, "You know what? I'm going to try it again." And now I'm suddenly a baseball cap person. If you're curious about putting away that negative attitude and pushing yourself in the moment, do something you've been thinking about doing but haven't. Just do it, then see how you feel.