January 11, 2024 |
To revel in the superlative taste of fashion’s best-dressed man, Robert Rabensteiner, is something almost religious. He’s an aesthete. A man about town. You can’t consider menswear without thinking about the flamboyant Milan-based fashion editor and stylist. With a gentlemanly aesthetic steeped in sophistication, an eye for detail and an aptitude for nuance, he is in a class of his own.
A tastemaker poised at the precipice of Italian fashion, he spent 28 years working alongside the late Franca Sozzani as L’Uomo Vogue’s fashion director and editor- at-large. He’s also lent a hand to Vogue Italia, Purple and T (the New York Times style magazine), and collaborated with photographers including Deborah Turbeville, Juergen Teller, Nathaniel Goldberg and Pierpaolo Ferrari. The bearded fashion great now operates as a creative consultant, working with labels like Roberto Cavalli, Moncler and Trussardi. His stories are mesmerising, delivered with the kind of charisma that keeps you coming back for more.
He’s as elegantly dressed as he is well-read, well- watched and well-travelled. As we chat, he’s on a train to Florence. There, Nico Vascellari, a friend of his, is staging an exhibition and performance. Always on the go, the styling supremo embarked after spending a short time in Paris. After The City of Lilies, he’s off to Sweden, then London for a day, then Napoli. Every week he’s in a different place.
A gracious man with aplomb, Rabensteiner explains his love for jewellery, especially the traditional and eccentric sorts, and delves into his extensive collection.
Robert wears a black stone ring from Kashmir
“The jewellery world is something very present in me. When I dress up and do my stories for fashion magazines and shows, the jewellery is a big part of it. I wear Indian and Pakistani jewellery, then I have moments where I wear my cufflinks and diamonds or something between Russian and Indian styles to make it like a brooch with Smeraldo and diamonds. For me it’s a love of beauty, it’s what we are. The jewellery shows the person. I think it gives character and a sense of identity, just like clothes. It’s not always about having heavy diamonds, you can also have something very simple that’s very special.
What I wear as jewellery always depends on how I feel at the moment. Maybe I think it looks cool on my hand or when I dress up for the day in my work outfit; it always works perfectly with my evening dress when I go out to dinners.
I don’t switch it up much. I’ve been having this Indian moment for about three months now. Then I’ll have a gold moment for another two to three months… but I don’t change it up every day. No, it’s for long periods.
My interest in these styles of jewellery comes from travelling. When I go to India, I dress in traditional Indian clothes; when I go to Morocco, I wear my kaftans. The jewellery that is always with me was my mother’s. I wear a lot of it, but not very feminine high jewellery. Normally I wear my gold crest signet ring from my father, a gold medallion necklace I was given as a gift from my friends Oscar Englebert and Giovanna Battaglia. Right now I’m wearing two rings, one crafted from coral and the other with a black stone, and a bracelet with coral stones and silver. And my taste comes from customs. I love traditional dress and so I love traditional jewellery like the Maharaja of India would wear, and a lot of it. I love that idea. It comes to me from books and movies – traditional Indian, African or Moroccan movies.
When I go to Istanbul, I go to this famous jewellery maker, Sevan Biçakçi, and I look at what he has. When I go to Venice, I go to Attilio Codognato. The last time I was working with Sophia Neophitou in Venice we went together to Codognato and checked out all the jewellery. In every country or city I go to, I look for the most traditional jewellery maker. I also admire Cartier, of course, and I love old Bvlgari. What Francesca Amfitheatrof is doing for Louis Vuitton High Jewellery I really love. It’s very modern and rich.
The first piece of jewellery I ever owned was the cufflinks my father gave me. They’re unbranded, there’s no designer; they’re handmade by some company in the mountains, something with no name. The second was the Cartier one with the knobs, but I was always about cufflinks. I started wearing jewellery when I was 14. I wore cufflinks to Christmases and big, big family dinners. I have a huge collection and the ones I wear are always very elegant with a shirt that needs them. I have some with diamonds that come from Russia, some in gold or silver, one from Tiffany, one from Cartier, I actually have quite a lot. And then of course I also have a lot of watches, but I don’t wear them anymore.
From my mum I have some necklaces from Chanel, the bijoux of Kenneth Jane Lane and high-quality diamond brooches. There’s a really special crocodile brooch with diamonds, gold, silver and rubino (ruby) that I wear on really special evenings. They are a big part of me. My mother would wear the high-class pieces just casually at home, but she’d always wear the same jewellery even if she were dressed differently. She loved a lot of jewellery, but always wore the same brooch even with different dresses.
Of course, there’s something sentimental about pieces from my mother and my father and the cufflinks that he gave me. Whenever I wear them, I think about him, and my father is still alive, so these are special pieces. They all are, but something I love is that when I travel with my boyfriend or with friends I remember everything about when and where I bought a piece. I remember the moments and the love and the places to go and buy jewellery. My favourite place to get jewellery is India, Rajasthan and Kashmir especially.
I’m from a very small mountain town in the forest in the North of Italy, South Tyrol. Before World War II, South Tyrol was Austrian, but then it became Italy, so I’m a mix. On my passport I’m Italian, but my first language is German; I feel Austrian, but I’m also Italian. In that region there is a high quality of jewellery with stones, especially ones from the mountain, but it’s worn more often on clothing than the body. It’s not something that we use so much, especially men. When dressing for occasions, a man wears cufflinks. My Indian bracelet, yeah, it’s a bit eccentric, but it gives character. I am very traditional with how I dress, but it’s up to where I am. If I am in the mountains, for example, it’s nice to dress like a Tyrolean; wearing that with Indian jewellery is quite strange, but it makes it more special and unique.
I’ve been travelling non-stop for as long as I can remember. I was 16 when I moved to South Africa. That was 40 years ago. Then I moved to India and I travelled all around; sometimes alone, sometimes with a group – we all got addicted. All these different countries, Africa, India, Russia, Mexico, South Africa, Bhutan, Thailand… I was always interested in their traditional dress.
With Covid, I kind of had to stop travelling, but the observing, even if it was in a quiet place, that kept going. I love what I do. I love what is going on around me, picture wise, nature wise, sports wise – everything gives me the energy to go on; even just seeing a new face. I’ve never been bored of what I do. The new generation is coming up now, and they offer new ways of dressing, wearing jewellery, bringing in a new energy and way of looking at the world, so you can never stop learning. What you did in the past, that’s already forgotten. Good things are what come next.”
Robert’s bracelet with coral stones and silver detailing from Rajasthan
Portrait by Dylan Don. Taken from 10+ Issue 6 – VISIONARY, WOMEN, REVOLUTION – out now. Order your copy here.
