What Lika Behar Taught Us About Style, Confidence & Wearing What You Love
Lika Behar on the Only Style Rule That Really Matters
When Amy and Caroline sat down with jewelry designer Lika Behar, she was speaking from her studio in Istanbul, surrounded by the work—and ideas—that have shaped her namesake collection.
The conversation began with jewelry, naturally. But it didn’t stay there for long.
Instead, the three found themselves talking about something harder to define: why some women seem to settle into their style with age, why fashion rules are usually better broken, and why the pieces we choose for ourselves often say more than the ones we are told we should own.
Can Style Be Taught?
Lika’s answer is yes—but only to a point.
There are things you can learn. Certain colors work better than others. Proportion matters. Trends can be useful to notice, if only so your wardrobe doesn’t begin to feel frozen in another decade.
But those are the mechanics. Personal style begins after that.
For Lika, the real question is much simpler: when you look in the mirror, do you like what you see?
If the answer is yes, she argues, there is very little reason to poll everyone else in the room.
That confidence—or perhaps the willingness to stop second-guessing yourself—is what turns getting dressed into something personal.
The Problem With Style Rules
Women are given plenty of them.
Don’t wear your hair that way after a certain age. Don’t mix metals. Save the diamonds for evening. Buy what is “in.” Retire what is “out.”
Lika has little patience for any of it.
Her own jewelry makes the case. A classic hoop becomes more interesting through texture. Gold sits beside oxidized silver. A traditional diamond band is stacked with something unexpected. Pieces that theoretically belong to different categories work precisely because they weren’t meant to.
She compared style to music: harmony is important, but without a little dissonance, things become boring.
It may be the best description of her jewelry, too.
What Gets Better With Age?
Style, Lika says.
Not because women suddenly learn a secret formula, but because they often become more comfortable with themselves.
She described growing more confident with every decade—less interested in fitting into a prescribed idea of what she should look like and more certain about what feels right.
That came up again when we asked her what a woman should own by 40.
There was no checklist of diamond studs, pearls, or the “correct” watch.
Her answer was something she had chosen for herself.
A piece that feels specific. Personal. Maybe even a little unlike what everyone else is wearing.
And Please, Wear the Jewelry
There is another rule Lika feels strongly about: jewelry is meant to leave the jewelry box.
The sentimental ring, the diamonds you save for weddings, the piece inherited from your mother that you love but never quite know how to wear—none of it has to remain frozen in its original context.
Stack it differently. Mix it with something modern. Wear it with jeans. Redesign it. Build around it.
Sometimes the answer isn’t replacing what you already own. It’s seeing it differently.
That philosophy will be at the center of Lika’s upcoming visit to Hauser’s, where clients can bring in pieces of their own and talk with her about styling, stacking, redesigning, and making jewelry feel personal again.
Meet Lika Behar at Hauser’s
Lika Behar will be at Hauser’s Jewelers September 17 and 18 in Newport News and September 19 in Williamsburg.
Before she arrives, watch our full conversation with Lika for more on confidence, personal style, jewelry, getting older—and why the mirror may be the only opinion that really matters.
Watch the full interview with Lika Behar on YouTube.
Ready to meet Lika in person? Contact Hauser’s to reserve your private styling session.
