In honor of Martha Stewart&rsquo;s return to modeling, we&rsquo;re revisiting the Jersey-born TV personality&rsquo;s early modeling days.

Yes, that&rsquo;s right; before she ruled our screens as America&rsquo;s favorite lifestyle guru, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/politics-culture/martha-stewart-autobiography" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martha Stewart</a> helmed a career in modeling, appearing in TV commercials, editorial spreads, and even campaigns for luxury brands by the likes of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/chanel-fall-winter-2022-haute-couture-runway-photos-virginie-viard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chanel</a>. Having dabbled in modeling since she was 15, Stewart began taking the gig seriously upon enrolling in college at Barnard University, where she majored in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/art-world-scandals-mona-lisa-banksy-anna-delvey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Art</a> History and supported herself financially through modeling.&nbsp;
In the 2013 PBS documentary Makers about the road to women&rsquo;s equality in the United States, Stewart shed light on her modeling days, stating that she &ldquo;got enough modeling jobs at $50 an hour&mdash;which was a lot of money at that time.&rdquo; Stewart even did a stint with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/chanel-most-iconic-wedding-dresses-wedding-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chanel</a> one summer while <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/gabrielle-chanel-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coco Chanel</a> herself was still pioneering the French fashion house, telling fashion legend <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/andre-leon-talley-legacy-fashion-industry-black-history-month-naomi-campbell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andr&eacute; Leon Talley</a> in an episode of The Martha Stewart Show of the Chanel garments she received all those decades ago that she has kept to this day.&nbsp;
As Stewart&rsquo;s modeling career drew to a close, she tried her hand as a stockbroker on Wall Street for a few years before launching a catering business with partner Norma Collier in 1976. In the years that followed, Stewart&rsquo;s accolades grew exponentially, among them being a number of successful food, craft, and home decor book launches, a monthly magazine, an eponymous television show that ran from 2004 through 2012, and an unexpected yet delightful friendship with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/celebrities-on-the-crypto-art-craze" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Snoop Dogg</a>. 
Earlier this year, the lifestyle expert made a brief return to modeling as <a href="https://swimsuit.si.com/swimnews/meet-your-cover-model-2023-martha-stewart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the cover models for Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit edition</a>. This also marked her as the oldest model to grace the cover at 81. On her birthday, L&rsquo;OFFICIEL has rounded up stunning photos from her early modeling days.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

14 Photos From Martha Stewart's Early Modeling Days

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