My personal style signifiers are my scarves. I have mountains of them. They’re silk, cotton, cashmere – some of the cashmere ones are decades old, very lightweight and embroidered – and all of them are colourful. I’m always dressed in black or navy, so there has to be something to lift the look. I feel naked if I leave the house without one.
The place that means a lot to me is Tenuta delle Ripalte on the island of Elba in Italy. It’s a hotel with holiday homes on 450 hectares above Capoliveri, surrounded by sea views. The first time my husband [Renato] and I went, around 40 years ago, it was just us and two German women. Dinner was served in the canteen and you’d see the boats going by beneath the pine groves. Over the years we made friends with other guests; we all looked after each other’s kids, who ran free. We returned recently for my son’s 40th birthday and it was magical. They still set the tables beautifully, exactly like they did years ago.
The embroidered jacket Lucia Caponi bought on her last trip to Jodhpur © Angelo Guttadauro
I probably shouldn’t say this, given what I do for a living, but I don’t love shopping. I do it if I really need something specific, but otherwise… eh. I enjoy it when I’m travelling because I generally have a more curious mindset then, so it’s fun. In India I buy everything. The embroidery! On my last trip to Jodhpur they almost had to carry me out of Maharani [Textiles and Handicrafts]. I bought a deep-blue cotton jacket, embroidered with orange at the hem. And then a cashmere shawl all woven with flamingos and exotic animals, which are motifs we’ve been doing forever, so clearly I saw it and thought, “That’s mine.”
