Jessel Tank returns for season 2 details

On a Monday evening during New York Fashion Week, Jessel Tank breezed into the Sabyasachi boutique in the West Village, passing a life-sized elephant sculpture near the sidewalk. However, the “Real Housewives of New York City” star couldn't say exactly what she's doing there.

“That's a good question,” she said with a laugh. “Apparently there is a great migration of elephants happening at this time of year, and I didn't know that, but Sabyasachi is celebrating it tonight.”

In fact, “The Great Elephant Migration” is a traveling art installation featuring a herd of 100 pseudopachyderms handcrafted in Tamil Nadu from dried invasive shrubs. (Actual migration of Indian elephants in India takes place all year round.)

For 41-year-old Turnk, this lack of attention to detail seems to be a hallmark of his brand. After all, who can forget when she called Tribeca “up and coming” on the final season of “The Real Housewives of New York City”?

But when she makes these mistakes, she does it with a disarming smile that wins over her bitter fans. By the end of the show's 14th season, and the first season of the cast's reboot, it was clear that she had undergone a villain edit that was taken as an act of willful ignorance and cockiness. But she has also discovered a fan base so passionate that its members call themselves “Tank Tops,” according to Rolling Stone magazine.

Her second season will premiere on October 1st (East Coast viewers will have the option of watching the show or the vice presidential debate).

That Monday night, Taanku and her husband Pavit Randhawa attended a party hosted by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, an Indian couturier and art installation sponsor. “I came here to eat food,” Randhawa, 44, explained.

Turnk, a fashion publicist and founder of Oushq, an e-commerce platform that brings emerging Indian designers stateside, pauses every few steps to exchange air kisses and laughs. Randhawa, a tech startup strategist, kept an eye on the servers who lined up chicken samosas and bite-sized fish tacos at the restaurant, which is popular with “Real Housewives” fans.

“He's eating dinner,” Tarnk said jokingly. Jabs like this have become part of their brand as a couple. After passing one appetizer station, the couple paused for a caviar bump.

“Oh, Mr. Mukherjee!'' Ms. Tarnku rolled her eyes to greet the designer, her black and gold Zimmerman dress flowing.

“Oh, is he the main character?” Randhawa asked someone nearby.

On “Real Housewives,” Ms. Turnk's career and marriage were the subject of on-camera speculation. In the first season, the other housewives regularly gossip that she wasn't very upfront about her background, but it's relatively simple. Her parents were raised in Kenya and have roots in Gujarat, India. During a period of instability in East Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, they moved to London, where Ms. Turnk and her brother Bobby, a music producer, were born. Her father was an accountant and her mother worked in childcare and retail.

In 2006, after graduating from King's College London, he joined his uncles Nitin Vadukul and Max Vadukul (whose son Alex Vadukul is a style correspondent at The New York Times), both well-known photographers, in New York. Her own career in fashion public relations includes working for Celine and Victoria Beckham, and in-house at Michael Kors.

After arriving at the back of the boutique, Turnk met Mickey Boardman, former editor-in-chief of Paper Magazine, who had a cameo on the show last season, during a party at his home. “Have you met Mickey?” she asked her husband.

“Yes, he was at our house,” Randhawa replied. The two were discussing Mr. Randhawa's unconventional method of remembering which glasses were his at the gathering.

He explained: “When you go to an event like this and everyone is drinking champagne, you're like, 'Which champagne is mine?'” Who would put carrots in champagne? ”

Turnk-san widened his eyes. “This was a cocktail party full of famous fashion editors, and he was walking around with bloody carrots in his champagne.”

“I never missed a drink that night,” Randhawa retorted.

The couple met in New York and were friends and then roommates before they started dating. Turnk asked him out on a date in 2012, and shortly after, “I think I proposed to him,” she said.

They had been dating for a year when a Michael Kors human resources representative asked her in 2013 if she had any plans after her visa expired in three months. “Oh, yes, I'm getting married,” she replied, before remembering calling Randhawa, who grew up in Los Angeles, to inform him of the development.

The two soon eloped at Manhattan's City Hall, then she went back to work while he went out drinking all day with friends who were witnesses, and an even bigger celebration was held in Mexico in 2014. It was also featured in Vogue magazine.

Turnk said she somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the Real Housewives series before joining the cast. “I thought I could make good television because I'm a lunatic, and Pavitt is the same way.”

The other “madman” pulled out his cell phone to call an Uber to twins Kai and Rio's house. “What is this place called?” he asked. Turnk stared at him in disbelief, then pulled out an embroidered jacket nearby and said, “It's on every hanger in the store.”

Turnk still styles her own clothes. That night, she paired her kaftan-like dress with a petite Yves Saint Laurent bag. Alexis Bittar earrings in gold. And a simple Gianvito Rossi stiletto. She left Mr. Randhawa alone and coached that Sabyasachi was the “Chanel of India”.

“He said, 'That's a lot of pressure,'” she said. “So he came out and twirled around and was like, 'What do you think Sabyasachi would say if he found out I was wearing Zara and H&M?'

After Mr. Randhawa returned home, Mr. Turnk headed to the bar at the Warren Street Hotel in Tribeca. “Look, it's so up-and-coming, so lively!” she joked — a quiet moment before the next event.

She started her own PR consulting firm while filming the show's first season, and during fashion week, she often finds herself getting as much attention as her clients. “All of a sudden, you're not a publicist, you're a talent,” she said.

While waiting for the spicy margarita she ordered, she popped behind the bar and helped the bartender, a man named Anthony Baker, get the job done faster with other bar tabs.

Soon, she was freely pouring batch tequila mixtures for the bar's signature drink, the Daisy Clementine. “Oh!” Mr. Baker stopped her. “I have to measure it!”

“Oh, was that alcohol?” she asked innocently.

Mr. Turnk grabbed a pair of tweezers and gently placed an orange slice over the glass before handing it to him. “Tell them Jessel Tank from 'Real Housewives' made the drink!”

A few minutes later, she was sitting on a colorful couch with a spicy margarita in hand, discussing the upcoming season. “This is definitely the best type of mirror, because I noticed that my tone was a little harsh,” she said. “When I look at Pavitt and what he does for us, it really takes me for granted that I have such a supportive husband. Sometimes on the show, I have a dismissive attitude toward him. I've been really focused on prioritizing our relationship.”

Was she nervous about coming back for more after the initial dislike she received?

At least not, she said. “I’m not a one-hit wonder.”