God Bless...Martha?

Yes. Martha. Martha as in Martha Stewart.

For some strange, obscure reason I watched daytime TV longer than usual today. And who are the daytime TV queens nowadays? Ellen and Martha. Now, I prefer Ellen over Martha, especially when Martha is cooking turkeys on her show because, as we all know, I'm not cooking any turkeys anytime soon, but for some reason something told me today to watch Martha instead of Ellen. It was my little voice. It said "Martha, Martha, Martha". The reason why this happened became clear to me as soon as I heard the announcer say "When we come back, Martha will take us to Coco Chanel's private apartment". What?! Yes, you read it right and I heard it right too. Just recently Martha made a trip to Paris where she went not only to Chanel's private apartment but to the studios at Chanel, where she met with none other that Mr. Lagerfeld, and to the latest Chanel fashion show. She only gave out a taste of what she did in Paris on her TV show as Im sure that she did much, much more, but it was enough to make my mouth water and my eyes tear up. Oh, how I dream of Chanel!!

You ask yourself why my obsession with Chanel. Well, I like Chanel not only for the fashion (which is most exquisite) but also for what it represents. This house, the house of Chanel, was created by a woman who was once an orphan. She is credited with revolutionizing fashion for women and she did this during my favorite historical time: the 1920's. In fact, she is credited with liberating women from corsets and with creating the ever popular drop waist dress (which has long been identified with flappers and the jazz age) and the one thing that every woman should have in her closet: the little black dress. Divine decadence my darlings. Today I learned that she never got married, although she had many lovers, and that her inspiration came from simple things that sorrounded her. I also learned that she loved to collect asian floorscreens and that the cap of the Chanel #5 art deco perfume bottle was inspired by a mirror that she had, and that still is, in her room. Coco was an independent woman creating great fashion for women. For once, it wasn't a man creating an image for women but a woman creating an image for women. She appropiated elements of men's wear and incorporated them into women's wear thus increasing mobility and comfort for women. Its feminism to the core. Its pioneering. Its Chanel. Its why I have liked it since I first learned about Coco years ago. Its why I like Chanel now.