Early Style Icons: Babe Paley

EARLY LIFE

Born Barbara Cushing on July 5, 1915 in Boston Massachusetts, she was the daughter of world renowned brain surgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing, who was professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins, Harvard and Yale universities.
Nicknamed "Babe", Barbara was blessed with great beauty. Babe and her sisters were schooled in the art of marrying well by their ambitious, social-climbing mother; they were taught to pursue only men of wealth and social prominence. Being the most beautiful, Babe was the sister who showed the most matchmaking promise. Her older sisters both married into money and/or prestige: Mary (Minnie) Cushing was the second wife of Vincent Astor, and Betsey Cushing married James Roosevelt, the son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and then later John Hay Whitney.
Aside from her luminescent skin, superb bone structure, dark eyes and swanlike neck, Babe developed a unique ability to socialize with others. She had a keen and lively interest in people and a manner that can only be described as thoughtful and gracious. In the glamorous era of the 1940s, Barbara Cushing became the perfect marriage companion.

FIRST MARRIAGE

Babe Cushing worked as a fashion editor for ''Vogue'' in New York City when she met and married blue blood oil heir Stanley Grafton Mortimer, Jr. in 1940. Babe’s mother was not entirely content with the union, preferring that Babe marry a powerful and wealthy man with a title. However, at the time, it did appear that this could be the “right” match. 
With gentleness, dignity and poise, Babe took her place in New York society as Mrs. Stanley Mortimer. Adored by the fashion press, she was named to the best-dressed list in 1945. Unfortunately her marriage to Mortimer was short-lived and ended by 1946. Mortimer went on to marry Kathleen Harriman, the daughter of Averell Harriman and father three children. At this time Babe was the mother of two children; Amanda and Stanley Grafton Mortimer III and living on limited funds while maintaining her place as a fashion and style icon. She was named to the best-dressed list in 1946 because she had fortunately joined the ranks of women who were given clothes by design houses in exchange for their high profile and glamorous images. 
Many recent retrospectives claim that she neglected her children while in pursuit of social status and depended upon the wealth of her husbands to support her lavish lifestyle. Her daughter Amanda Burden admits that their relationship was "virtually nonexistent" and that the distance "was her choice, not mine."
Babe now set out to make a second high profile marriage but this time avoided traditional blue blood names like Vanderbilt and Phipps. The divorce settlement she received from Mortimer was based on a trust fund and barely provided her with enough money for herself and her two children.

SECOND MARRIAGE

It was then that she met William S. Paley. A pioneer in radio and television as the founder of CBS, Paley was phenomenally wealthy, with an interest in the arts and a desire to be a part of New York café society. The only snag was that Paley, although rich and high profile, was Jewish and nouveau riche. For William Paley, Babe was the perfect match. With her connections, beauty and style he stood a greater chance of being granted entrée into a society which had barred him. For Babe, Paley offered wealth, security and worldliness. So in 1947 Babe Mortimer and William Paley married.

HER FAMOUS STYLE

Babe now set about with the task she was born to cultivate, the creation of a picture perfect social world. The couple took an elegant apartment at the St. Regis and hired noted interior designer Billy Baldwin to decorate. It is here that she and Paley would live during the week, while weekends were spent at their farm, Kiluna, a sprawling estate on Long Island. The couple had two children; Kate and Bill. 
But even with Babe’s reputation and Paley’s wealth they could not seem to overcome the anti-Semetic prejudices of WASP society. As a result they were excluded from a number of important social functions and exclusive clubs. None of this seemed to trouble Babe, however. She set about creating her own exclusive social enclave, choosing to socialize with Paley’s high powered business associates, celebrities and a select group of wealthy and successful Europeans. 
Babe was at the center of this nascent Jet Set. Her circle of friends included author Truman Capote and fellow socialite/style icon Slim Keith. Capote included Paley and Keith in his group of "swans" (glamorous New York socialite women) - other members of this group were Gloria Guinness and C.Z. Guest. Paley famously dropped Capote as a friend when excerpts of his much-touted work in progress, '', revealed the gossipy confidences of many of New York's elite, with suggestions of more secrets to come.
No one could entertain with the grace of Babe Paley. Guests who were invited to join the exclusive "Paley" club were treated with the luxuries only offered in the grandest of hotels in Europe. Servants were bountiful; food was spectacular, and the surroundings breathtaking. It is this legendary entertaining that made the Paleys the most sought after couple in New York. 
In addition to this lavish entertaining, Babe maintained her position on the best-dressed list fourteen times before being inducted into the Fashion Hall of Fame in 1958. Babe regularly bought entire ''haute couture'' collections from major fashion houses. Her personal style was inspirational to thousands of women who tried to copy her, but as Bill Blassonce observed, “I never saw her not grab anyone’s attention, the hair, the makeup, the crispness. You were never conscious of what she was wearing; you noticed Babe and nothing else.”
Her personal style can best be described as "uniquely American, elegant-casual". A photograph of Babe with a scarf tied onto the handle of her handbag created a trendy tidalwave that millions of women emulated. She did not hesitate to mix extravagnt jewelry with cheap costume pieces - something women of her wealth did not do. Famously, she embraced letting her hair go gray instead of camouflaging it with dye. In a stroke of modernism, she made pantsuits chic. While seemingly inconsequential, these choices were quite revolutionary when glimpsed through the prism of her era and social status.
But alas, the one man that she tried so desperately to please was the one she could never seem to satisfy. Time and time again her husband pushed her to greater and greater heights of perfection, in the way she presented herself, their image as a couple and their homes. Paley made sure (for his own ego no doubt) that Babe was wrapped in sable and completely bejeweled at all times. His lavish gifts, however, were not offered as tokens of affection but rather to demonstrate his enormous wealth and power to business associates and society. As a result Babe became a lonely and frustrated woman. 
Early on in their marriage, Paley completely rejected her sexually, choosing a chain of extramarital affairs. This psychological battering took its toll on Babe and her family. She was constantly under the scrutiny of society and the media who pressed her to maintain the unrealistic image of a social and fashion goddess. A combination of these external pressures and a two pack a day cigarette habit finally wore her health and spirit down. 

FINAL YEARS

In 1974 Babe was diagnosed with lung cancer. But she remained gracious to friends, family and society even though she was ill, frustrated, and in a great deal of pain. She planned her own funeral right down to the food and wine selections that would be served at the funeral luncheon. She very carefully allocated her precious jewels and personal belongings to friends and family and even wrapped them up in pretty and colorful paper along with a complete file system with directions as to how they would be distributed after her death. 
Babe Paley finally succumbed to lung cancer on July 6, 1978, the day after her 63rd birthday. She was interred in the Memorial Cemetery of St. John's Church, Cold Spring Harbor, New York. On his death in 1990, her husband was interred next to her.

LEGACY

Long after her death, Babe Paley remains an icon in the world of fashion and style. An elegant and gracious hostess, a leader in the world of fashion and style, “ Babe Paley had only one fault,” commented her one-time friend Truman Capote, “She was perfect. Otherwise, she was perfect.” 
Many fashion designers and interior decorators continue to reference Babe Paley's style in their own creations. While incredibly wealthy, her style is seemingly accessible. While appearing casual and understated, it is well-planned and flawless. Paley and her "swans", much like Jacqueline Kennedy during the 1960s, exemplified a young, attractive and affluent class that many Americans aspired to become, or at least dress like them. Paley does have her detractors, who label her a shallow, self-interested clotheshorse.
Babe Paley was portrayed in the film ''Capote'' (2005) by Michelle Harrison and in ''Infamous'' (2006) by Sigourney Weaver.

QUOTES

★ The familiar adage, "One can never be too rich or too thin," has been attributed to her.

★ "Babe Paley had only one flaw: she was perfect. Other than that, she was perfect" —Truman Capote

TRIVIA

The character's of socialite Judith Austin and her husband; CEO of a television network Gregory Austin in Jacqueline Susann's 1969 bestselling novel The Love Machine, were said to be based on Babe and William Paley

SOURCES

★ Grafton, David. ''The Sisters: Babe Mortimer Paley, Betsey Roosevelt Whitney, Minnie Astor Fosburgh - The Lives and Times of the Fabulous Cushing Sisters''. Villard (1992).

★ Smith, Sally Bedell (1948- ). In all his glory: the life and times of William S. Paley and the birth of modern broadcasting. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1990. 782 p. 

★ [1] Domino magazine's "Editor's Pick - Babe Paley, featuring a photo of Paley at her Round Hill Villa in Jamaica

★ [2] Fashion designer Zang Toi's Spring 2005 collection inspired by Babe Paley's time in Jamaica

★ [3] NewYorkSocialDiary.com