A Closer Look: Inside Swan Babe Paley’s Iconic New York Apartments | Cultured Elegance
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- A Closer Look: Inside Swan Babe Paley’s Iconic New York Apartments | Cultured Elegance
Babe Paley, one of the most famous Swans of Truman Capote's inner circle,
Consisting of; Babe Paley herself, Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, Pamela Churchill, and Lee Radzwill (Jackie Kenner Onassis’ Sister) are all depicted in a new television series known as Ryan Murphy’s “Feud”
Babe Paley was renowned for her exquisite taste and luxurious New York City apartments. Decorators such as Billy Baldwin, Sister Parish, Albert Hadley and Jensen were instrumental in creating the timeless elegance that defined her living spaces. Babe's sophisticated style and social influence made her living spaces the epitome of high society living. Her collaboration with renowned decorators resulted in spaces that captured the essence of luxury and refinement, reflecting her impeccable taste and status as a tastemaker of her time.
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❤ 🎉 Thank you for watching! Who is your favorite Swan? 🦢
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Don't really have a favorite Swan, except perhaps C.Z. Guest, who was kind, and, in her later years, Gloria Vanderbilt, mother of Anderson Cooper, who had her own money. Otherwise, once you find out how brutally abusive many of these women's husbands were to them and how they endured it in exchange for the wealth, it's difficult to have much respect for them. Bill Paley was an insatiable womanizer and cheated on Babe continually with whomever, whenever, wherever. Coincidentally, Truman's uncle, John Persons, was my godfather. Those genes were powerful as my 'Uncle' John, although of more normal stature, had Truman's identical head and face. Truman drove himself from New York to Florida for the winter for many years and always stopped off to visit my godparents and his grandmother who lived with them. They felt that writing "In Cold Blood" completely broke Truman mentally and emotionally and that was why he was never able to finish much of note thereafter.
Babe Paley is my favorite. ❤
Nun. They were all bigots.
Capote’s Women is excellent! Thanks for the other suggestions, as well!!!
Thank you, loved Babe and her rooms were exquisite.
Almost every one of her dresses could be worn today. Timeless elegance is a great title.
Sure, if you look like a beanpole everything looks great, old and new!
Thank you for sharing. While beautiful, I’m fascinated by the choice of drapes in the St Regis apartment, as they made the room dark. I’m curious about the design sensibilities of the time…considering Babe was a trend setter. Plenty of rabbit holes for me to go down.
One important factor in how vintage clothing looks so awesome is that it was all made to measure, and therefor actually fit the bodies of the people wearing it. These days, everything is off the rack and nothing fits anybody properly anymore
@@pamelacorbett8774and how much do you weigh?
Right? If only she had that same style in her furnishings, yikes those prints.
My mother was very good friends with Babe’s Daughter Kate. I first met her 1989/90. The most sweetest and generous heart. I went to the 5th Ave apt. I was never a fan of the interior design of their house, but to each his own. 😊 Babe, had such classic looks in fashion. It didn’t translate into their home, but that’s just my opinion. I think their apartment was very busy & all over the place.
Thank you for the video it was nice .
Me too very busy!!Just too much going on.
If I had that kind of money moderation would be my friend and I'd spend time with my children so that we had a good healthy relationship Later in life since her husband was a user and phalanderer.
@@christinamitchell6796 without me saying too much. I agree not spending time with the children which is call neglect, is damaging. It did something to Kate and It was very sad to see. Like I said before she was and is most sweetest and loving person I’ve met in her class.
We all need kindness, love, and good quality time with each other. It goes a long way.
🪷🌞
It was a different era .I'm sure in person, it had a different effect
@@BebeNowAmen 🙏 that's good inspite of her upbringing you found her to have a kind heart.
That's why nobody has an excuse, we can have a fantastic upbringing and some turn out awful humans.
That was the way wealthy people decorated and furnished their homes in the early 60s. They all look very similar, no one was unique, it seems
It’s so funny to see a time where style was “more is more” there was soooo much going on in those rooms my eyes didn’t know where to land!
Ever heard of the baroque ? Well, that was a kind of new baroque (more is more), like the Beaux Arts style in architecture.
It was pretty bad!
@@nativevirginian8344 Bad ? Matter of taste. Such famous interior decorators as Nancy Lancaster (then) and Jacques Garcia (now) made/make lovely busy interiors. To name only these two.
I know! Isn’t it great! I love it!
Thanks for the grand tour and great commentary! When I was a fashion illustrator in NYC in the late 1960s/1970s I saw the Babe sitting in her silver Rolls Royce as she was driven by her chauffer rounding the corner of 5th Ave. and West 36th St. Even with gray tinted widows you could see how flawlessly beautiful she was with a perfect complexion and her finely chiseled features. She was very cold looking then, like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth! She was the epitome of classic timeless beauty and haute couture! Sadly she passed away from cancer because she had been a big time smoker as so many were back then i.e. also second hand smoke! The late greats Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis also died from the Big C because they had been big time smokers as well along with their great style and haute couture i.e. high fashion! I've also studied interior design so this was of great interest to me as well! Fashion and interior design go hand in hand!
I've always wondered why a woman who Chose to ignore her husband's infidelities is considered such a "icon"? Just because she had hobbies, didn't make Kenneddy-Onassis someone to admire. Money can clean and "adorn" many things. oh that's right, she really didn't have it - she married it. Once again with an older man who basically held her as a prop. Even plotted to ensure she would not, and could not lay claim to any of his money.
Sadly, heavy cigarette smoking was considered a diet aid. This was how tobacco was marketed to "liberated" women following WW One. A famous magazine ad showed an elegant, plump woman reaching for a bowl of candy, the copy said something like "Reach for the Kent, instead." Genrations of "fashionable" women, and men had their lives shortened by smoking, which was considered "sexy."
@@mepulley7913*Because the world of women was very constricted at that time.* A woman could not get a mortgage, a credit card, a car loan etc. without a male signature, daddy’s or husband’s typically. Consequently, being among the NY social elite was quite an accomplishment. It was the women who orchestrated that realm (in support of their powerful husbands) and as a result they also were highly socially prominent. Fashion mattered at that time and these women routinely appeared on the “Best Dressed” List of that era. They were elegant, cool, reserved, the epitome of style and excellent taste, had impeccable manners and didn’t put their private lives out for public consumption-which was and still is vulgar.
*Your knowledge of that era is wildly uninformed.*
The heavily fabriced rooms was a way to express wealth, create drama and help with acoustics.
@@leeboriack8054 - Sadly it still is with the old money wealth. I have a friend who works as an interior designer and says the same.
I bought a darling mid century home from a gentleman who was a heavy smoker and also his wife transitioned in the house from cancer. The walls and ceilings when sprayed with cleaner dripped brown liquid that looked like coffee. Even the refrigerator gasket was covered in nicotine. Needless to say I washed and repainted every surface and the place smelled much better. Even though the owner never mentioned it, I got a great surprise when I ripped up green sculptured carpet (very stained due the owners beloved elderly dachshund) to reveal the most pristine blonde oak floors in original condition. The home had clean lines and was my favorite of all my rehabs. On the Paley palace, it is ironic that Babe dressed so simply and elegantly but her homes were very busy and maximally decorated. Such was the fashion on the times presumably but it reminds me of old las Vegas. She was a timeless beauty.
Good for you for bringing back a jewel from the past. I'm sure it was a stunner. I did the same sort of clean up job for my mom's place after she was diagnosed with lung cancer from life long smoking. The cleaning solution looked like tea coming down the walls. I cleaned every surface, carpets, and furniture. I also added air purifiers. She had us and hospice coming in to help, but she was still independent at that point. I did not want healthcare workers to have to come into an environment like that. Made the best of a bad situation and treated everyone with as much dignity as possible. I wish people wouldn't smoke. I lost both my parents and two grandparents to lung cancer.
Faith, I wish someone would see all this hard work and you do your show on television. You are so talented.
It seems clear to me these rooms were designed to look their best when full of people. Especially glamorous elegantly dressed people. The contrast of comfortable humble-cotton chairs occupied by men in pristine black tuxedos & women in one-of-a-kind evening gowns must've been breathtaking.
Empty of guests, as in these photos, the rooms look like they're holding their breath til the guests arrive, or like you can still feel the warmth where someone's hand held a glass the night before.
And the rooms are designed for comfort--a slightly elevated comfort perhaps--so that visitors feel as relaxed as if they were in their own homes. Imagine the thrill as a guest to walk into the most exclusive party in the most exclusive apartment in the most exclusive city in America, & feel so comfortable & as if you belong! As if you're exactly where you should be--at home.
And surely that sense of comfort, ease & familiarity would have encouraged guests to relax, have an extra drink or two, perhaps tell a few secrets or consider behaving badly...
Perfectly stated
Very descriptive! And well said!
Those secrets were Capotes undoing. Because he couldn't keep them, he was banned for the rest of his life from that rarefied high society.
@@kevinchambers1101 The only person who ever undid Truman was Truman himself. Slowly, & with a sly grin on his face, lol. Have you read 'Other Voices, Other Rooms'? Truman is a true American genius.
The whole point of 'Answered Prayers' was to remind Americans that the society Truman described was clearly neither 'rarified' nor 'high'. To remind Americans that Swans, like the rest of us, take a sh*t.
those GUESTS WOULD NEED TO BE UPPER CLASS SOCIETAL NROMS DICTATE THE UPPER CLASS MIGNLE WITH THEIR OWN KIND NOT WITH DIFFERENT CLASSES THATS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN
My favorite swan, I have 2, are Babe Paley and Slim Keith. Paley in part because of her job at Vogue, knowing Diana Vreeland, and her openness & need of Truman Capote. Slim because I am a classic film fan all my life and know how Slim influenced Howard Hawkes’ re: Betty “Lauren” Bacall. Further, Slim was not as open to telling everything to Capote. She seems to have had a sense that it would be a mistake whereas Babe needed Capote, needed his caring, his “love.”
They were my favorite Swans as well. Being from Atlanta, GA i have read about the New York high society and it intrigued me. They were all fashionable but as hard as they tried to keep their secrets secret, it all came out!
@@jeanneglover7701 Yes indeed!
@@jeanneglover7701Thanks to Truman who betrayed their private disclosures to him, that petty back-stabbing little drunkard.
I'm with you, Ducky 😊
I love Slim’s memoir, she led quite a life!
All I can think of with all those fabric wall coverings is the chain smoking everyone did. Must've smelled like pure hell in there lol
Same thought. Babe died from lung cancer a day after her 63rd birthday. Very sad.
They had a small army of servants
Right? Cashmere wall paper? Ruined
Every aspect of this video, whether it be Mrs. Paley's hair, makeup, outfits, and mostly her decorating taste is stunning and spectacular! Thank you for posting this incredible gem - hope there's more to come !!
This was another fabulous video showing beautiful interiors displaying gorgeous home furnishings and accessories. I so enjoyed it. Carol from California
Thank you so much for your kind comment Carol! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video!
Thank you for creating this beautiful video. It was like sitting and eating a big box of the best chocolates in the world -I'm sure you know which I'm alluding to and maybe eating equally delicious ice cream and a big cake with layered cream cheese frosting, then some cherries from your sour whisky -but, forget the whisky. It was so beautiful. The photographs of Babe Paley too, oh, she was SO beautiful! I could watch this every night!
The rooms are exquisitely elegant and beautiful. But all that fabric and all the smoking! The hanging chandelier clock @ 4:16 with the Morrrish figure sitting on top of another person is kind of strange and unsettling.
And probably a returned soldier,sitting outside on the street begging... I don’t mind been rich, who doesn’t want to be? But this is to much, the reason we are in the trouble we are in today..
@@marylou3995Yep and they are widening the gap even more today
Remember that Moorish Art and Jewelry went through a period of popularity in the 19th century and the last century (prior to the Civil Rights Movement). At that time it was considered valuable art.
Obviously, things change over time. What was once acceptable ma y not be any longer. Try to understand the timeframes of the art, design, etc on #Swans and appreciate where we have come from, historically. Enjoy!!
Not to mention the hand sculpture... interesting...
Imagine how the fabric absorbed the cigarette smoke and city dust. 🤧
Good grief. Be nice.
I thought the very same thing. They must have been soaked in cigarette tar.
Yea, just wrote that. Babe smoked two packs a day!! Yikes!
Just like their abode, it’s as if everything is an ornament , including the residents. The more I read the more I think of how terribly lonely I would feel being separated from the other world and feeling like an adornment in some kind of a play that I had to act in for life.
She died of lung cancer at just 63 years old.
@@johnwright2911
Excellent video. She was a truly elegant woman. Having read individual biographies of both Bill Paley and Babe (plus her sisters), what came across was the basis for his marrying her: he was a social climbing nobody who made a lot of money; her sister Betsy was married to Jock Whitney - Paley really wanted to say he was Whitney's brother-in-law. However, I again have to say that I feel the apartments, while not as bad as some, are rather claustrophobic. I like "stuff," but enough is enough. Too many of these apartments and homes are designed on the principle of "nothing exceeds like excess."
The first apartment in particular looked very dark and gloomy. I would be depressed all the time if I had to live there. The proliferation of chairs gives the rooms a very claustrophobic feel.
Corny pretentiousness isn't "elegance".
Thank you for this excellent episode!!
If you look at old magazines in that era, this is what you would see within their pages. The designs of the rooms in this style
Loved their lifestyle! I was born in 1954 but the style of the 40’s was my fav!
да---аМЕРИКА разжирела на еврейских деньгах ---какой стиль 40-х ? Весь мир восстанавливался после войны v--а америку это не затронуло .Страна которой 200 лет --не может иметь свою аристократию--поэтому все украли у России--символ лебедей украли у Чайковского .--МАТЬ ТРУМЭНА НОСИТ РУССКОЕ ИМЯ ..традиция пить шампанское и есть икру черную--это русская традиция ...Сам ТРУМЕН ПЬЕТ ТОЛЬКО РУССКУЮ водку С толичная Все эти стеклянные пасхальные яйца--это жалкое подобие яиц Фаберже ...Музыка вальсов на черно--белом балу--это музыка Чайковского .Весь Голливуд создан русскими евреями из Одессы .Балет --кино---театр --музыка--декоративное искусство --все украдено у России или в Европе .Бейб не читала ничего кроме кулинарных книг и модных журналов ...Поэтому Трумэн и написал свою знаменитую книгу ....Регулярно обедать в дорогом ресторане --это не значит быть интеллектуалкой ...Это значит --иметь здоровый аппетит и хороший желудок.''Дальнобойщики в платьях''
Bedrooms? Bathrooms? Kitchen? Sadly, these are the rooms that I am DEEPLY interested in and the ones least likely EVER to be photographed. 😶😢😖
I adore both versions of the tented room. Just the simple addition of cotton as the primary fabric relaxes me. The ultimate furnishing, natch, was Mrs. Paley herself. So beautiful; so chic. You would have to go far into history to find a woman so lovely.
FYI: Herter Brothers was the original decorators of the public rooms at the St. Regis. Although noted for their Aesthetic Movement interiors, the company supplied revival interiors during their entire history.
A person with a highest form of taste- reflects to such individual- the way they dressed and the way their interior homes were put up. For taste; just like class cannot be bought but can be polished.
Omg thank you so much for posting this!
Of course! Thank you!! Likewise!
I am delighted with this Paley video you have created. Extraordinary detail!
Would it be possible for you to cover some more Swans, such as Slim, CZ Guest, Lee Radziwell et al?
I’ve seen pictures of Radziwell’s home in London, which I believe she decorated and pictures of her Paris apartment. There is so much intrigue surrounding Radziwell.
CZ Guest is of so much interest because of her standing in society, her influence on gardening etc, etc.
Love your channel. When I’m exasperated with reality in this 21st century, I love to look through your videos. Thanks much 💕
new york times did a story on Lee's Paris apartment.
@@chrisjone7555 Ah, thanks so much for sharing this Chris! I’ll look into it. Have a great day ☀️
Amazingly beautiful! Like a dream of fictional luxury come to life! - I could watch them for hours! thanks so much!
Riveting as always. Thank you
What an extraordinary lady!! 🫶🏻
I think that there is more 'original' 18 th century French furniture in the US than was ever made in France ! It's a bit like the work of artist Corot who painted about 2000 paintings and 5000 of which can be found in Japan alone ! Babe was said to have the most beautiful neck in high society and it was also said that she had some sort of peel done on it to improve it.
Somebody said "men marry up and women marry down" and I see it over and over in these marriages. Babe was the daughter of a surgeon and went to private school. Paley's father was a tailor, I think. Nothing wrong with it and it's very American but it is interesting to see it happen all the time.
I think the statement really truly only applies to America (well mostly anyway).
She didn't marry Paley's father though. She wouldn't have married him if he wasn't a competent and financially successful business owner.
@@apebass2215 He was successful and must have been incredibly charming. But he was also Jewish and those lines still existed in WASP society. She was a catch and he caught her. She did pretty well too, I have to say.
@@cocoaddams4502 yes, he was a successful Jewish businessman who made a great deal of money. Still failing to see what makes you think she "married down".
@@apebass2215 In terms of social class -- she came from an affluent family, went to better schools, had more well-connected and socially-acceptable friends and relatives. She could have married into that class but didn't. She married down. For his part I'm sure part of Paley's attraction to her was that she was from an upper class. Marrying her meant acceptance into a class he wasn't born into. It's like John Kennedy and Jackie Bouvier. His grandfather ran a bar. Her relatives were old money. She married down, he married up. My favorite example of this is Irving Berlin. He wanted to marry an heiress but her family told her if she married (jewish, lower class) Berlin, she'd be cut out of the will. She married him anyway. I'm sure he provided for her very very well though. -- Preston Sturgis wrote about this. He said that the only time it seemed to go the opposite way -- women marrying up and men down -- was when the woman is extremely beautiful. I think he called it a beauty passport or something. this is why you see Dukes marrying models.
Paleys had a beautiful townhouse on Beekman Place that later became the residence of Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of the Shah and United Nations Ambassador
My father told me once about her. She was feared in Iran because of her ruthlessness.
All the drapery...and all the dust settling in it. Very claustrophic (1st apt.)
i was also thinking "fire hazard", between normal life and all the ciggies
Speaking of Truman Capote's Black and White Ball, might you please do a video on that? Or have you already done?
Excellent idea! That will be my next video!
My favorite room is the yellow living room in the 5th Avenue apartment, pre-80s spruce-up. That radiant shade of yellow is so warm and beautiful.
I lived the briwn and pink floral and how ut was used and i loved that wallpaper in the dining room
She had style, she had grace...(song) But it was a shock to see her standing with a cigarette in a smoke-filled room with all that cotton wall fabric.
Babe Paley threw it all away for cigarettes. People will boo-hiss, but it's true.
And the filthy back of the white chair😳
@@lisakenny8113 Probably from icky hair products. I have to say that I'm hardly the classiest mammal, but even I know gauche, tacky style when I see it. The only theme I detect is excess.
@@akrenwinkle they were her crutches for a bad marriage. That was the 1960s. Sad really.
@@MegAplin Of course I'm guessing, but judging from her posing with her long, elegant holder, and her style-is-everything mentality, I think she thought it was soigné. I also think smoking every waking moment doesn't even get one high any more. Common sense would say it's the occasional smoker who'd get buzzed. I think some might hope it's a crutch, but its effectiveness as a crutch is zilch.
Hopefully, they'll show details of Truman Capote's Swans 🦢 soon.
All I can think about is all the money that was spent on that decor that was saturated with stinky smoke. Such an “elegant” setting that reeked?
I guess I like the second apartment with the large windows in the living room best. I love a lot of west facing windows. I want sunlight spilling in daily and plenty of “fresh” air to keep the place ventilated.
The rooms, the furniture, the drapes and the overall busy patterns give me claustrophobia. Was this really Babe Paley’s aesthetic?
Don't think so....she was after all a Cushing...I'd say the designers.
and i love it! unfortunately i can t afford it...
I'm not sure. The rooms did not feel relaxed to me. Some of the chairs were randomly placed and didn't fit in. I wanted to like this.
What a phenomenal treat!
The large dog painting over the sofa now belongs to Lars Bollander, a Swedish interior designer.
I live for random YT comments like this. Honestly. Thank you.
I have seen my looking through auction catalogues and books for a painting that I have seen in someone's home, it bugs me until I know. I love this particular painting since I saw it in Bollanders home in his book so it stuck in my mind. I once saw a painting in a newspaper and tracked it down to the Louvre who had purchased it so I went to the Louvre (I lived in Paris ) and asked to see the painting and one of the curators took me to see it, gorgeous painting. It stood on an easel next to the 'Feast of Canna' but has since been hung elswhere. It is called 'two hounds attached to a stump' by Jacopo Bassano if you care to look it up ! Have a nice day.@@cocoaddams4502
That's the problem with perfection: once achieved there is no place to go, this is why somebody else starts from scratch and builds a total different excellence, on different premises, making the previous "perfection" oeuvre, temporarily obsolete. And it goes on and on: This is Fashion, the spirit of the times with its champions, villains, losers and old timers. All well thought and made stuff is valid anyway and, beside being used long after the times they where hip, at the end their worth becomes -above all - historic and it will end in musea as lesson & inspiration for the new generations. Thank you so much Babe with your 3 family names
I loved the look, especially the dining room wall fabric. My mother was very beautiful and glamorous, Texas style. No matter how often we were transferred ( my father was a petroleum engineer) our homes always looked so lovely. I still have some of her hostess gowns. There is a good documentary on TH-cam about William Baldwin, and how he stood up to the studio heads in order to live his life openly as a gay man with his partner of many decades, and then became the famous designer he is known as. He was a big time star in the twenties and thirties??, but decided to live his live on his own terms.
It's funny, when the rich have copies of something, it's called a "reproduction." When the working class has a copy of something, it's called a "dupe." Never one to be impressed by pearled socialites or their tuxedoed hubbies (because wealth never implies real class), I do appreciate the artistry of the people they hire to make their stay on this planet as comfortable and oblivious as possible. Paley's iconic (isn't everything old and expensive now called "iconic"?) apartment does have a certain charm.
There is so much commentary on here about smoking making things unpleasant. I have never smoked and it makes me nauseated to be in a smoker’s presence. However I am 60 and well into adulthood before I had ever heard of a non-smoking hotel room. Smokers were required to sit in the back of planes at some time about 1980. There used to be frequent airliner crashes, and often the back of the fuselage broke off and didn’t burn, so the smokers were saved. This was true with Delta 191 at DFW, and a few others. Anyway, both my parents smoked. Their cars could be unpleasant as they smoked continuously. Our house never had a smoky smell. After a large party once or twice a year, they would open the windows and doors and refresh. I think the cigarettes today leave more smell because the tobacco is treated with something to make it more addictive. The first time I ever noticed an unpleasant smell at the office was from a secretarwho smoked Vantage, which were supposed to be especially well filtered. I think they were later taken off the market because the filter was found to be harmful. Anyway, things were not as unpleasant back then as ,any of you seem to think. Another difference between now and then is things were cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis. Once a year, all the curtains would have been sent to the cleaners, all the rugs sent out to specialized rug maintenance services, and most importantly once a week every room had all the furniture pulled away and dusted and vacuumed in a more detailed way than anyone except Martha Stewart does. So think what you will about smoking, and it is disgusting, but things were not smelly back then.
Yellow taxi cab walls very clever
She was a heavy smoker. Can you imagine the smell of those wall to wall draped, and upholstered rooms? Must have smelled like a hundred dirty ashtrays.
And cleaning it..😮🤢
Honestly all those talking about how everything must have smelled from smoking…….think for a moment……..they had people that constantly cleaned and aired the apt. I’m sure they could afford dry cleaning for the drapes.
Thanks.
It would still stink to high heavens.
Big mistake to paint the taxicab yellow walls gray. Sister Parrish knew what she was doing!
The Billy Baldwin brown calico is depressing. I remember his brown kick my mom painted our bathroom glossy brown! We kids HATED it said it looked like poop. She repainted it immediately a soft glossy pale yellow. Much better
The rooms were stunning but l would be constantly worried about the risk of fire with so much fabric on the walls. Especially with smoking. It must have held a lot of dust too.
I agree. I think the brown wall hanging room looks hideous, too. What was Billy thinking?
How do you dust fabric walls? I guess you vacuum them.
Personally....I couldn't live in a place with sooo much going on.........But when did They meet Capote...????😊
January 1955. By mistake, supposedly. Bill Paley mistook Truman (name) with President Truman. A well-known anecdote that's most probably false.
Alright another great video
Glad you enjoyed it
Incredible! ⭐️
Yessss the fifth avenue swans. Truman’s girls
the style is exquisite but most people get lost when they dont see gray board floors or live love laugh paintings
What are the state of these homes now? Who lives there, have they been maintained etc. ?
What was up with that one pink chair towards the end? It was filthy, can’t help but wonder if that was hair product or color that rubbed off on the top of the back, the arm tips were grimy too…maybe that was Bill’s chair & he forbade it be touched 😂
Wow! Surely a bygone era but fun to review. Of course the principals of this video would look down upon the rest of us as "the great unwashed." One rule I have noted is how those stylish women always wore their pearl strands in odd numbers, and that seemed to work!
Anything Blue! Was wonderful.
Taxi cab yellow
What a stunning stunning apartment
That woman had so much taste and flair
Beautiful beautiful
Her designers did.
Excellent video but all that dust (and smoke) catching fabric!
As a smoker, I can imagine how all that fabric reeks. 😮
So fancy! A very gorgeous and fine women, thank you for sharing this kind of dazzling and richinly searched content
When rich people had class...the decor of all her residences were divine!
Absolutely a beautiful time to live as far as apartments and clothing and people had manners just to go back to that time would be amazing
If you are rich,you are automatically Beautiful!
Billy Baldwin was noted for the use of brown in his interiors…It was all of a certain time of exaggerated and over-the-top tastes and styles…Sadly for Babe Paley, it did not lead to happiness or longevity….
Brown. ICK!!!
I think that designer was having a laugh
Sssshhh. It was the style of the day.
The only thing I like about these interiors are the priceless paintings!
Love your series!
My favorite was the Chinese-influenced room taxi yellow-laquered walls. The other rooms were too dark and overstuffed for my taste. (Not that I have her taste level or sophistication but I have yet to find a problem with Jackie Kennedy Onassis's elegant rooms. The bedroom video you recently posted🌹)
I hated the clock. (Might as well put a lawn jockey to light the way to the powder room.) Many people seem to be focussing on the cigarette-smoked fabrics. Wouldn't the fact that they were mostly cotton and furniture covers mean they were easy to replace or clean?
Also, the smell bothers us today because it's so rare. Remember back then, folks chain-smoked or you were surrounded by smokers. Speaking from experience, you get used to it. Think of walking into a multi-cat home -- the cat owners don't seem to have the same reaction you do when you first walk through their front door (thank heavens we've moved past the clay kitty litter days) 😉
The first thing you'd be greeted with when you walked in the door would be the stench of Marlboro country. Yech.
I saw a photo of elderly Garbo smoking and was surprised to see her pack of Marlboros on the table. I would have thought some chi-chi European brand.
Everyone smoked then so they didn't notice
The only thing I can think of is: "Gawd, that place must absolutely REEK of stale cigarettes!" All that fabric is nothing but a giant floor to ceiling cigarette filter.
Sometimes less is more 😊
Agree. All these homes had way too much clutter!
Agree. All these homes have way too much clutter! Every inch of wall, table & floor space is covered in non essentials.
And the price that was paid for all those elegant photos of Babe standing in a ball gown with a cigarette in an ivory holder was premature death at the age of 63 from lung cancer. Thank goodness we don't glamorize smoking anymore.
3:55 I used to own that daybed. I bought it in the mid to late 90s wow! Nice to see it again it was positively useless but gorgeous
Awesome 🎉
lovely!
All of this fabulous socializing and I wonder if any of them were truly friends to one another??
Hemingway’s houses would be a good episode also
Yes , please !!
The " taxi colored , yellow , lacquered walls " were gorgeous . I cannot believe they changed them to that hideous grey / white hue . 😝 What were they thinking ?
One can really forget the world outside when one enters those apartments.
There are so many photos, that it's hard to know which are of which apartment, and which are showing similar styles.
Very well done, interesting video, but I would lose the annoying piano background noise.
Cultured Elegance is palpably enamored with the wealthy society people about whom she posts. Her cultured diction is as perfect as what one surmises Babe Paley's was.
Your comment is so kind! Thank you very much
I am sure the fabric was stinking of smoke and musky smelling. Hideous interior however it was a statement in time. Billy baldwins interiors for Jackie Kennedy were so chic.
Tented rooms! That's a lot of fabric.
I’m probably the only commenter here who liked all of the decor.
Wish there were more color photos
This was very interesting, thank you.
As a decorator, I love a draped room for deadening sound in a large room.
That yellow is good for lively conversation but wow.
I like that she used different designers and didn’t feel stuck in the place having to “flow” with the same decor throughout.
Some many lovely dresses that would still be beautiful today, that’s why it’s called “classic”!
I love cotton and linen!
That room is so busy with patterns 😬 how tastes vary…I love their less busy newer place, so gracious looking.
I’m sure she had a lot of pressure on her, she looks extremely thin.
You have a very nice voice, and with no personal offense intended, and if you even care to hear this, the pausing in your commentary felt affected. Maybe this is even what you were going for, but how truly special it is to have genuineness along with graciousness and class.
The grunge on the chair in the Library, which by the way is missing a single book, must be hair dye. But from which Paley? Also, New York is notorious for air pollution, so how could anyone keep all that fabric clean? Ms. Paley died in her early sixties. Her heavy smoking coupled with living in one of the most polluted cities in America did her in.
Finally someone mentioned the dirty head rest on the chair 😂😂. It was driving me crazy 🤣🤣. Why didn't they reupholster?
I had a client who used brilliantine in his hair... his special chair for relaxing acquired such s "patina" from where hus head would loll back... my guess is this was Mr. Paley's favorite, and was therefore left as-is!
Me encanta es tan slfisticada genial
9:30 is the same pics as Jackie Kennedy's apartment. 🤔
yes same pics as jackie’s. which is which then?
This apartment captures what was viewed as the height of elegance.... go back & look at decorating books or magazine ads.... look at books that show the Duchess of Windsor Paris home , Jackie Kennedy's 5th Ave apartment- all very similar.
The extensive comments on smoking reflects todays views & reactions to smoke.
Growing up in 1950s- 60 - few didn't smoke - so what's offensive today, was literally not noticed at all by most.
From all I have read, Babes was a genuinely lovely woman- & devoted her life to her husband- for better or worse. Given opportunity, she'd have been an excellent fashion editor- & proved she had talent working in fashion business when young.
The art critic and Picasso biographer John Richardson said the Paley's were the only ones to get everything in their various homes exactly right - high praise indeed. All the same, one must ask what was the point when the people they wanted to impress were uniformly ghastly as Truman Capote eventually discovered, though he must have figured that out long before they showed him the proverbial and literal door.
Aside from the high ceilings and exquisite architectural details, I thought the rooms were rather boring, with the bland muted colors. Some rooms almost reminded me of Neapolitan ice cream after it melts. 🧚✨💫
It looks old fashioned, but valuable for future movie makers
I smoke but in my garage never never in my home can you imagine the damage from nicotine smoke in all that luxurious fabric
She died of lung cancer.
Beautiful Babe