A guide to good style, by Roberto Coin

The well-travelled Italian jewellery designer on the correlation between style and sensibilities.

Jeweller Roberto Coin. Jason Merritt / Getty Images

What is your definition of good style?

Before we speak about style, we have to speak about knowledge, which means having studied art and culture from different countries. I’ve seen 117 countries in my life. It’s about learning. But something cannot be stylish without being beautiful, and beautiful doesn’t mean expensive. Neither beauty nor style are based on price. Sometimes a good idea will come from someone who is poor. But she has a good idea because she wants to look different. She probably ties her scarf in a way that makes her look different. That is beauty – that creativity.

Is style not entirely subjective?

Absolutely. And thank God for that, otherwise everybody in the world would be buying the same three things. It is subjective to where you live, your upbringing and schooling, and how much you’ve travelled. Style grows on everybody in a different manner as they grow up.

How, then, do you create pieces that will appeal to a wide range of cultures?

It’s about branding. Everybody has to brand themselves. I can only use the words of Giorgio Armani, who said many years ago: “Branding is an imposition of my taste upon others, and I can’t help it if they don’t have good taste”. In 1996, I decided that I had to follow a different direction than other brands. I had a different philosophy, which I still love. I wanted to dress every woman differently. Brands normally want to dress every woman the same. You continuously change your style, your clothes, your hair; you get older, your husband becomes richer, or maybe poorer, but we always give you the opportunity to buy something different, something that nobody else has.

Before you launched roberto coin, you were a hotel manager, but did you ALWAYS have a love for fashion and jewellery?

I had an unusual upbringing. My parents died when I was very young, so I was thrown into one boarding school and then another. I grew up as a young boy in Switzerland, so I have that Swiss precision; then, as a young man, I spent time in England, where I opened my hotel, so I am British-minded in some ways. But I have the Italian creativity, too. Even as a young boy I always looked at women, at what they were wearing; I was fascinated by women, but in a nice, respectful way. And I always paid attention to what I was wearing and liked to dress myself well.

What is the philosophy behind your work?

My people know. Nobody tells me that something is difficult, because they know it will just make me want to do it more. And if they say it’s impossible, then I definitely have to go for it. That’s always been my philosophy.