Cover: May 15, 1995

Martha Stewart

"There are any number of explanations for the cult of Martha Stewart: the democratizing effect of television (people who would otherwise avoid her can't); the long and noble American tradition of embracing any smart entrepreneur who sells the masses a tasteful way to exhibit class and wealth; and the fact that her standards are so exacting that almost anything she says is hilarious…. 'Martha Stewart represents a unique wing of the survivalist movement,' jokes Mark Leyner, the avant-pop novelist and all-purpose culture deconstructor. 'She's a combination of Amazonian strength, Olympian omnipotence, and Emersonian self-reliance. Home decorating is just the beginning. Soon she's going to branch into nuclear weaponry, cold fusion, and voodoo. There's nothing this woman can't do.'"
From "She's Martha Stewart and You're Not", May 15, 1995 issue of New York

Martha on Martha
"Up until a couple of years ago, I really was not a strategist in the big sense. I had a sense of what I needed as a woman, mother, housewife, homekeeper. And I used that as a basis for what I thought other people would need. A happy home. A beautiful garden. An edited landscape. I stand for a nice life with a pleasant environment, interspersed with business, with a love of art and music and all the other stuff. My trademark and I are the same. I stand for what I am."
From New York's 30th Anniversary issue, April 6, 1998