Martha Stewart Entering Artificial Intelligence With ‘Ask Martha’ – WWD

Will Martha Stewart ever retire? At the rate she’s going, probably not.

The celebrity cooking and home decorating diva, who recently turned 82, is on a roll with one project after another stacking up like traffic on the George Washington Bridge.

On Monday, she talked about those projects as the keynote speaker kicking off the MAGIC, Project and Sourcing at MAGIC trade shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Recently, the octogenarian spent two months preparing for her Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot, which made history when she became the oldest woman to appear on the cover of the much lauded edition. “It was a lot of fun, and the response to it was really encouraging because it made women of all ages feel that if I can do it, then they can do it, too. And that is what the objective was,” she said, sitting onstage being interviewed by Booth Moore, the West Coast executive editor for WWD.  

Stewart arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday evening in time to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her first restaurant collaboration with Caesars Entertainment, The Bedford by Martha Stewart, located at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. It’s a replica of Stewart’s 1925 farmhouse in upstate Bedford, New York, and incorporates many of her favorite recipes, including roast chicken, a very Instagrammable bread basket, and a “Martha-tini” with Polish vodka, nodding to her heritage.

But the businesswoman, who turned a catering business into a lifestyle empire, is on to other things so vast it is hard to keep track of them, unless you’re Martha Stewart.

She is writing her 100th book, comprising 100 of her favorite recipes with stories attached to each one. That debuts in October.

That same month, she is hosting a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” event at the Tiffany & Co. flagship on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan with Daniel Boulud at his Blue Box Café. It is part of the New York City Wine & Food Festival, which raises money to provide meals and nutrition to people with severe illnesses. Stewart is planning to wear her hair up like Audrey Hepburn, the star of the movie, and don a black dress and pearl necklace, she said, adding that was a lifelong dream to work with Tiffany-owner and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton boss Bernard Arnault.

With Marquee Brands, which acquired Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2019, she is developing a line of healthy cat and dog food in collaboration with chewy.com, which sells pet supplies. “I expect that it will do very well because I have a lot of pets, and I care very much about what I feed them. I try to live up to my own philosophy of practical, good, healthy and beautiful for all my product lines.”

In March, she launched a line of comfortable slip-in shoes, sandals and wedges with Los Angeles-based Skechers. “We’re trying some other things [shoes], and I am working on the designs,” she said, adding that she got her friend and “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party” costar, rapper Snoop Dogg, a Skechers shoe collaboration that will be done in some very vibrant colors.

The fashion model turned cuisine and interior design guru is working on a new line of work clothes that might be done with Tractor Supply Co., which already carries Martha Stewart pruners, sheets, comforters and sinks. “I’m in the garden so much and clothes for the garden are too stiff, too heavy and too uncomfortable. You have to be able to bend over; you have to be able to squat; you have to be able to kneel,” she said. “So, we are working on a really interesting line of work clothes.”

Her dream project would be to create a line of practical, fashionable but affordable clothing for the average shopper. “I have developed my own personal style,” she said, noting she is a very casual person, who is partial to Suzie Kondi velour sets, but was wearing a Brunello Cucinelli sparkly knit sweater and skirt for Monday’s talk. (She’s become friends with Cucinelli, and is attending his 70th birthday party in Solomeo, Italy, next month.)

“I would like to make that kind of clothing that is beautiful and elegant, like Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Brunello Cucinelli, and make them for the mass market. When I started making things, I really believed that everything should be available to as wide a market as possible. That’s why my first manufacturing contract was with Kmart for the first 10 years of my fashion life.”

She is also creating 50 shows with Roku TV dedicated to cooking, gardening and entertaining.

Jumping into technology, Stewart is developing something called Martha AI (artificial intelligence). And what is that?

“If you want to learn how to clean your shower, Martha will tell you. We are working on that right now,” she said. “Pray that it happens because all the work I’ve done over the last 60 years, I would love to be incorporated into an AI as useful as Martha.”

So, how does Stewart keep on going and reinventing herself? “You must really assume an authentic personality. You must be authentic to yourself and to the public,” she explained. “You must learn every day so that you can teach every day. I am a teacher. I don’t think of reinvention as much as I think of evolution. I want to evolve and evolve and get better and not stay the same.”