This bracelet was provided by Cartier and featured on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in 1956 in a photograph by Leslie Gill.


Barbara Cushing Mortimer Paley (1915-1978) was a style icon and American socialite. Known as ‘Babe’, she was one of the three distinguished Cushing sisters; their father was the world-renowned neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing. Each sister married a wealthy man, Babe included. Her first marriage was to the advertising executive and oil heir Stanley Grafton Mortimer and her second marriage was to William S. Paley, the founder of CBS.

Babe worked as a fashion editor for Vogue in New York City from 1938 to 1947. The role provided her access to top designers who urged her to wear their pieces. In 1941, Time magazine voted her world’s second best dressed after the infamous Wallis Simpson. Babe continued to remain on the best-dressed list fourteen times before her induction into the Fashion Hall of Fame in 1958.

Babe had a signature style all her own. She was known to wear magnificent jewelry by Fulco di Verdura, Jean Schlumberger and Cartier – at times pairing her fine jewelry alongside costume pieces, styled with haute couture gowns or even pantsuits. She was a true tastemaker in every sense and her iconic style remains timeless.