The Perfect Mrs. Paley

"Babe Paley had only one flaw: she was perfect. Other than that, she was perfect", said Truman Capote about the woman he adored for almost 25 years.

Born Barbara Cushing, Babe as she was known to friends and admirers, was the daughter of Harvey Cushing, both a renowned neurosurgeon and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Though not of society, from an early age her mother encouraged and groomed her 3 daughters to marry wealthy men. Babe’s sister, Betsey, was married to James Roosevelt, FDR's son, and later married Jock Whitney. Their oldest sister Minnie married Vincent Astor. Babe's first husband was Stanley Mortimer, of the Standard Oil family. After a brief marriage and subsequent divorce, she married William S. Paley, chairman of CBS. Though his family background and religion, he was Jewish, made him less of a social catch than her first husband, Mr. Paley embodied all of the qualities Babe found wonderful in a man: he was rich and powerful, and worshipped her absolutely.

For most of the 50s, 60s and 70s, Babe remained a fixture at the top of the Best Dressed List. A photograph of Babe with a scarf tied to her handbag, for example, created a trendy tidal wave that millions of women emulated. She often mixed extravagant jewelry with cheap costume pieces, and embraced letting her hair go gray instead of camouflaging it with dye. In a stroke of modernism, she made pantsuits chic. Her good friend Slim Keith referred to her style as "perfection in an era of casual convenience". Vogue called it "effortless chic achieved at great effort"