The goddess is in every woman, or at least for sale to her: You can shave with a Venustm razor, work out in a "Goddess" T-shirt from Nike, apply Estée Lauder's Bronze Goddess Soft Matte Bronzer -- or even go on the Goddess diet endorsed by Cher.
On fashion runways for this summer, there were styles and shapes borrowed from ancient Greece, with shirred mini-dresses by Nicholas Guesquière for Balenciaga and Tom Ford, long Armani sheaths and Alexander McQueen's film-like, shredded garment that could have walked off a statue. For the fall, goddess dressing continues with slip dresses in satin by Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan's ruched, body-hugging number that dissolves in folds.
Storefronts at Saks and Bergdorf Goodman in New York have featured the trend and this fall, Holt Renfrew's Goddess promotion will pay tribute to the silver screen, with a couture fashion exhibit in conjunction with the Toronto Film Festival.
"For us, it's about the Golden Age of Hollywood," says Barbara Atkin, Holt Renfrew's fashion director. Classic screen goddess archetypes, with their curve-emphasizing dresses and diamante jewellery, celebrate the womanly form in divine guise. Atkin thinks its recurrence appeals to the way the modern woman sees herself. "We are goddesses," she says.
Celebrities embodying the trend include Julianne Moore, Jennifer Lopez -- whose appearance in pink Bob Mackie in Maid in Manhattan has led to the knockoff of the season in bridesmaid dresses -- and Nicole Kidman, who recently hosted the launch of the Goddess exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum.
Goddess, a display of dresses at the Met's Costume Institute that runs until August, explores the impact of the goddess on high fashion. Curator Harold Koda says he was inspired by it after working on another show last year, Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed.
"It occurred to me because of how there is no persistent ideal beauty," Koda says, from his office in New York. "Fashion adjusts -- based on a culturally bound notion of what female beauty is. That's when the thought began to be formed, is there anything in fashion which exists in exception to that?" The Goddess exhibit showcases classical influences in fashion from 1930s Vionnet to contemporary Balenciaga.
"Goddess dressing is about acknowledging the body," Koda says. In a culture obsessed with athleticism, tanning, cosmetic enhancement and youthfulness, the dress that does less -- making the most of the body without transforming its basic shape -- is ideal for narcissists. It also appeals to the opposite type. "The ideal Greek woman was one who had a decorous modesty," he says.
The show's collection, which hangs beside visual comparisons from ancient history, reflects the wisdom of ancient Greece -- where dress types included the chiton, a long chemise; the peplos, which had an overhang to the waist; and the himation, a draped cloak similar to the toga, which are all flattering to different body types.
And if it might seem ironic for the average woman to adorn her natural shape with an iconic image, Koda points out that the Greek gods were just idealized humans.
"You don't have to shed your mortal flaws to be a goddess. In fact, it's much more difficult to be a contemporary woman than it is to be a Greek goddess in a way," he says. "To be a mother, to be intellectually skilled, to have great physical beauty: It's like being the young Martha Stewart."
In pop culture, the goddess is increasingly being applied to strong women not afraid to take on life's pleasures and challenges. This fall, Roseanne Barr will debut a new reality-TV series, The Real Roseanne Barr, depicting her efforts to develop another show called Domestic Goddess. Then there's Britain's Nigella Lawson, whose How to Be a Domestic Goddess famously featured her actually eating heartily, and full-figured pop diva Queen Latifah, who earned the term for her low-cut gown at this year's Oscars.
Goddess worship has been around longer than anyone can remember, from the Venus of Willendorf to Marilyn Monroe to New Age feminists looking for alternatives to a patriarchal religion -- but for many women her newest face is about worshipping yourself.
The idea plays well into modern women's struggles with body issues. Rather than run from it, retailers are using the trend to their advantage: Passion, the new pink Venus razor from Gillette, "makes it easy for every goddess to reveal her beauty."
Nike (which is actually the Greek name of the goddess of victory) recently opened a chain of Goddess stores for women in the United States and sells a line of exercise T-shirts with "Goddess" on the front and "Victory" on the back.
At Addition-Elle, a Montreal-based women's clothing chain, marketers are banking on the fact that some women are tired of unattainable perfection. "The ancient Greeks believed the Goddess of Beauty was a full-figured woman," says a recent ad campaign. "So do we."
"I think it would appeal to anybody because it's giving a very strong message about being proud of who you are and what you are," says Wendy Skulnick, Addition-Elle's marketing manager. "Specializing in plus-size clothing, we also promote being proud of who you are. All of our customers are each a goddess of beauty in their own way."
But is all this mainstreaming just going to alienate those who take the goddess seriously? According to Toronto's Mary Marzo, who conducts a workshop called "Celebrating the Goddess in Everyday Ritual," the fact that companies are jumping on the bandwagon is not all bad.
"Everything to do with the goddess has everything to do with bringing everything back to the body," she says. "People are catching on."