Monday, June 7, 2010

INSPIRATION Babe Paley 1949... PRADA FW 2008//9

...inspiration in color and elegance.....Babe Paley [left] and Prada FW 2008//9 [center, right]...
Barbara "Babe" Cushing Mortimer Paley [1915- 1978] was an American socialite and style icon. Paley worked as a fashion editor for Vogue in New York City when she met and married oil heir Stanley Grafton Mortimer Jr. in 1940."Babe" Mortimer was named to the best-dressed list in 1945 and 1946. Her position at Vogue gave her access to designer clothes, often given in exchange for Babe's high profile and glamorous image. After her divorce of her first husband, in 1946 she met  William S. Paley, the founder of CBS. Paley was phenomenally wealthy, with an interest in the arts and a desire to be a part of New York's café society. Babe had a circle of high-society friends that included author Truman Capote and fellow socialite and style icon Slim Keith. 
Capote included Paley and Keith in his group of "swans" (glamorous New York socialite women) along with Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli and C.Z. Guest. Paley famously dropped Capote as a friend when excerpts of his much-touted work in progress, "Answered Prayers", revealed the gossipy confidences of many of New York's elite. Long after her death, Babe Paley remains an icon 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.”