Tucker Carlson is a journalist who often ends up becoming the news – perhaps most famously when Fox News fired him from his successful show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, in 2023. His views on everything from climate change (not a threat) to Israel (he believes that the country has dragged the US into an unnecessary war) have also kept his name in the headlines. Today he runs The Tucker Carlson Show, available on the likes of Youtube and X, where he has interviewed white nationalist Nick Fuentes and Vladimir Putin.
While it’s easy to see Carlson as just a right-wing protagonist and fire-starter, he no longer supports Donald Trump, is opposed to the Iran war and recently spoke out in support of left-wing Democratic Senate contender Abdul el-Sayed.
Monocle caught up with Carlson at the Livex Liveability and Investment Exhibition in Abu Dhabi to discuss the mid-terms, Trump, threats of war and being a media owner.
You’ve come out to the Gulf quite a lot. What is it about the Gulf, the UAE, that attracts you?
I’ve been coming here regularly for 25 years and have seen it become one of the most vibrant places in the world. I’m fascinated by the governance of it. How is it that these countries have leaders at the ministerial level who are young, patriotic and totally committed to the country but also open-minded, international in their outlook and nationalist at the same time?
We last saw you at the World Government Summit in Dubai, and then, of course, the world changed in the weeks after that. You’ve made lots of statements lately about your critique of the war with Iran and why America shouldn’t have become involved. Is that a conversation that you’ve come here to continue in person?Nobody here wants to have that conversation because they’re exposed and they’re living the consequences. It’s a conversation that I have with people in my country and in Europe, where I have family and where I spend a lot of time. Europe is going to be the main victim of this. I don’t think that Europeans understand that quite yet.
I’m worried that the most beautiful, open-minded and productive countries in the world are at risk of being destroyed through self-harm. These are wars that the world didn’t need, that Western leaders have insisted on. It’s a form of suicide. I don’t understand why it’s happening but I’m determined to do whatever I can with the limited power that I have – which is really no power at all – to stop it.
But Tucker, those are the connecting themes between those two wars. You believe that both are unnecessary wars, that peace could be found even at this moment?
They’re not only unnecessary. They’re both deranged. We’re watching harm come to the best countries in the world, both in the Gulf region and, especially, to Western Europe. I think that this will all become obvious in the next six months.
More than 100 years after the First World War, people who are interested in history are still debating why it happened. It destroyed the UK’s leadership class – and the country has never recovered. It’s the most unbelievable thing that has ever happened in history: Europe’s self-destruction from 1914 to 1918, which could never happen again. But we’re seeing something similar happen right now. I’m determined to make that point again and again, and I have never been warmly received for making it. No one good is going to win from this.
We’re a few weeks out from the midterms. You say that you have a small amount of influence today but what’s fascinating is that, especially in the US, the media world has fractured in a huge way. The power of the Foxes and the CNNs to guide people through elections has completely changed. How do you see the media world that you’re in playing a part in the debates around the midterms?
It became clear to me that I have no power at all. I marshalled every resource that I had to try and stop the current war and I failed. But CNN and Fox have even less power and they frittered away their influence by lying on behalf of various administrations. The media’s currency is trust between the broadcaster and the audience – and they’ve squandered theirs. They’ll be gone in my lifetime and I won’t miss them. I worked at CNN for 10 years and at Fox for 15 but they have no credibility left at all. They’re despised and rightly so. Will they be replaced by something better? I sure hope so.
You have a committed audience. People come to you for a certain take on the world and they like to be challenged by your perspective. How important is trust in the work that you do?
It’s all we have. I don’t command an army. I don’t have government agencies. I’ve got 50 employees, as opposed to the US government’s five million, so I have no real power. The only thing that anyone in the media has is the trust of their audience, which can evaporate instantly if you’re caught lying.
My perspective changes constantly as the evidence comes in. A lot of the ideas that I had 10 years ago turned out to be absurd. I was wrong – not just wrong, but probably wrong. I advocated for things that were disasters, including the Iraq War, so the only recourse that I have is honesty. In fact, I think it increases your credibility when you admit that you have limits to your insight and that you’re an absurd person, because we’re all absurd on some basic level. We’re not gods.
Do you think that the outcome of the midterms will nudge the administration in one way or the other?
I think that the president acts with unrestrained authority, in violation of our constitution, on foreign policy but that’s a long-standing tradition in the US. The president can do whatever he wants abroad without Congress reining him in. Once the Republicans lose the midterms in November, the only things that the president can achieve are in foreign policy. Because of that, I worry that the US will accelerate its conflict with Iran – and by accelerate, I mean using weapons of mass destruction. I think that it will be the most dangerous moment of our lifetimes. I hope that I’m wrong. I’ve been wrong many times.
Do you think that there are forces within this current administration, or among the US’s current political leaders, who have the ability to somehow check that possibility?
I don’t. I see the people who drove the US to war with Iran on Israel’s and who are driving the US into war with Russia at the expense of Europe, specifically the UK. I think that the UK is the most imperilled that it has been since 1066 and I don’t think that your average Brit understands that at all. The frustration that Brits feel about the failure of their government to raise their standard of living has been successfully siphoned off into hate against Putin, as if he has anything to do with this, which he doesn’t. The failures of the British government are the failures of the British government.
I think that the UK has gone insane, as the US has gone insane, and insane countries don’t thrive. They tend to be destroyed. So it’s time to wake up and realise that the Anglo-American alliance doesn’t control the world by itself any longer, that it’s going to have to share its power with emerging nations. I would like it if the Brits and the Americans still ran the world and did a good job of it but that’s not the reality that we’re facing.
Do you enjoy being a media owner?
No. Honestly, I enjoy not working for anybody. I’ve been fired many times. In fact, I’ve been fired from every job I’ve ever had and every time it has been such a blessing. But unfortunately I can’t be fired anymore.
There’s something fishy about the warnings that AI can and might soon obliterate humanity. Namely, some of the most powerful CEOs cautioning us about the dire situation are also the ones creating and selling the technology. The warnings – reiterated yesterday in Anthropic’s leaked preparations to go public – might be justified but they’re also economically handy for the people behind big tech’s biggest bet yet. The companies crowing about the need for regulation are, lucky us, also best placed to sell the solutions.
This isn’t the first time that anxiety and uncertainty have been deployed by people who are flogging AI. Think of the narrative pushing every hairdresser, handyman and CEO into adopting the technology or risk being left behind and jobless in an unrecognisable world. Or the long-running suggestion that any tiny speed bump in technological progress might allow some dreaded Chinese company to overtake a US one in the “race” (note the urgent terms employed).
But here’s a question: the race to what? US geopolitical advantage? Making money for investors? Benefiting society? These aren’t the same aim, nor have they been meaningfully unpacked. Many large language models still produce woefully mixed results. Anyone who’s used the technology will recognise that, for all the vast world-altering potential, it’s still clumsy, error-prone and of dubious utility.
Despite the provenance problem of the warnings, AI’s dangers are all too real. A cyberattack could destabilise critical infrastructure, rogue bots could wreak havoc on the economy or healthcare systems; the perilous permutations are endless. But that’s exactly why now is the moment to think about how the technology can be more usefully applied. The public, investors and governments could do with some good news.
We all agree that AI could change the course of human history for better or worse. The problem is that there are scant examples of how. If widespread political, private and public adoption is the goal, companies urgently need to move beyond the sci-fi tropes of global destruction and set out some advantages. Or at least try. What’s in it for us, exactly? This will take both computing and creativity.
The realistic short-term danger for you and me might not be robots running riot but the AI companies overpromising. For all of this future-gazing, it’s starting to feel a little like pre-crash 2007 or the last months of the dot-com bubble. Without some sense of an upside to where we’re heading, those long-hoped-for gains, profits and sunlit uplands might yet date as badly as a stroll in the metaverse or that shiny new NFT.
If AI succeeds in unlocking untold efficiency – and, fingers crossed, humanity survives – then great. Investors will rejoice too. There might even be trickle-down economic benefits for some parts of the world amid the upheaval. But if the gamble doesn’t pay off, confidence will wane and the AI bubble will burst; and you and I (and our already heavily indebted governments and shaky economies) will pay the price. Perhaps we’ll need to find a bright side to the conundrum: it’s not the end of the world, after all.
Josh Fehnert is Monocle’s editor. For more analysis and opinions, subscribe today.
Take an early evening stroll through the city on any given weekday and you’ll find that, for all of London’s gastronomic exuberance, the dominance of the pre-theatre rush has reduced culture’s closest bedfellow to a three-course, in-and-out blob. This is useful if you’re retired enough to consider 16.30 a fine hour for dinner, or are busy herding three kids towards The Lion King. Otherwise, eating steak stingy-on-the-frites while half the city is still on a Zoom call is definitely not hakuna matata.
Post-theatre eating is undoubtedly the more grown-up option – less hurried and more natural a setting in which to pore over what you’ve just enjoyed (or endured). The trouble is that when you emerge from yet another revival of Hamlet, London’s cultural institutions stand like mausoleums in gastronomic graveyards, flanked by restaurants that feed before the curtain rises or close just as it falls.
But for those of you who are strong-willed enough to resist the gravitational pull of a fast-casual eatery, the promise of the post-culture meal can be realised – so long as you know who’s still cooking and what’s worth staying up for.
The Barbican
On any given evening The Barbican has several floors of theatre, dance, cinema and classical music performances for you to pore over. It’s just a shame that afterwards, its labyrinthine walkways deposit you into a part of town where the best restaurants seem hopelessly out of reach. In fact, salvation is but a short walk away.
St John
St John’s whitewashed dining room, serving a purist nose-to-tail menu until 22.30 on Mondays through Saturdays, is as pared-back as its brutalist neighbour. However, the welcome is gladly anything but, and few things will return you more pleasurably to earth than a bone-marrow-and-parsley salad followed by a slice of Lancashire cheese.
26 St John Street, EC1M 4AY
Bouchon Racine
Fifteen minutes in the opposite direction is Henry Harris’s ebullient bistro above the Three Compasses, which recently knocked the Ritz off the top of the National Restaurant Awards. Tête de veau and whatever else Harris has decided is sufficiently terrifying are served upstairs and the 300-year-old pub on the floor below possesses that rarest of London treasures: a late licence.
66 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6BP
The National Theatre and British Film Institute
The South Bank has no shortage of drama on stage or screen but the real cliffhanger is when you emerge after 21.30 and realise that your choice of dinner is between Giraffe and Wahaca. Thankfully there are two local dining rooms worthy of a proper debrief.
Lasdun
From the team behind The Marksman, Lasdun, which is conveniently inside the National, serves the kind of mouthwatering seasonal pies and puddings that makes attributing the moniker “theatre restaurant” almost insulting. Luckily for you, Lasdun has told me its best availability is always after the pre-theatre crowd has gone to bed.
National Theatre, SE1 9PX
Poon’s at Somerset House
A 15-minute riverside walk will deliver you to Amy Poon’s restaurant at Somerset House. After 21.00 it serves siu yeh, the southern Chinese tradition of a late-night meal, cobbled together from whatever the kitchen has held back from the day’s service.
Somerset House, Lancaster Place, WC2R 1LA
Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe
A few hours at a Tate Late is surely enough to whet your appetite. But alas, Borough Market – normally only too happy to commit daylight robbery against unwitting tourists – has been reduced to a sea of stacked chairs. Bar one or two exceptions, that is.
Kolae
This southern Thai grill is reliable equally in its consistency and punchy flavour combinations. The curried mussel skewers are to be ordered without debate, followed by phuket-style braised pork belly and a whole stone bass. But be warned: when a waiter says something is spicy, believe them. After three hours of Shakespeare, it’s exactly the kick up the arse that you need.
6 Park Street, SE1 9AB
Agora
Chances are you’ve already been cornered at a party by someone explaining why Agora is London’s best restaurant, which they can never get into. Armed now with the knowledge that it’s walk-in only and open late, next time you can gleefully inform them that their best chance of getting through the door comes just after curtain call.
2 Bedale Street, SE1 9AL
Royal Albert Hall
How the Royal Albert Hall becomes the epicentre of culture during the Proms while the surrounding streets can muster little more than a Ben’s Cookies, one can never know. Still, there are two notable spots – one old-school and one more modern – to find refuge after the concert.
Da Mario
Just eight minutes away from the concert hall, this rambunctious family-run Italian spot has hoarded all the character that South Kensington appears to have mislaid. Once a favourite of Princess Diana, you’ve got until 23.30 every evening to wolf down a bowl of its 24-hour beef ragù.
15 Gloucester Road, SW7 4PP
Sol’s
For something a little more date-night, we suggest skirting the top of Kensington Gardens to Sol’s, a small, walk-in-only wine bar with low-intervention wine and Mediterranean small plates. It’s open until 23.00 and is exactly the sort of place Beethoven would have frequented after dotting his last semiquaver of the evening.
25 Leinster Terrace, W2 3ET
Royal Court
The Royal Court has spent 70 years giving Sloane Square far more cultural clout than this postcode has any right to. But after the show, it’s still nice to be reminded that you’re in swanky SW1, darling.
Martino’s
Despite being a relative newcomer, Martino’s has the white-jacketed, martini-soaked confidence of somewhere decades older. The kitchen takes last orders at 22.30 (plenty of time for tortellini in brodo), though drinks continue to be served until the early hours, six nights a week.
37 Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AN
At Sloane
At Sloane lets non-guests order from the hotel’s 24-hour room-service menu until the bar closes – at midnight on Sundays through Tuesdays and 01.00 on Wednesdays through Saturdays. That means anyone can enjoy a burger at an hour that might suggest the Royal Court’s new three-hour play could have used one last edit.
1 Sloane Gardens, SW1W 8EA
Covent Garden
Between its theatres, opera house and cinemas, Covent Garden’s restaurant scene suffers the same problem as its cultural counterpoint: plenty of choice but surprisingly little you would actually want to spend an evening at.
Speedboat Bar
Speedboat Bar fully embraces the post-culture ideal. While much of London is heading home, this riotous Thai-Chinese bar seems to hit its stride just as the theatres empty. Salty chicken skin, fiery curries and pineapple pie can be ordered until 22.45 on Mondays through Thursdays and, heroically, 00.15 during the weekend.
30 Rupert Street, W1D 6DL
Romano’s, Simpson’s in the Strand
The newly revived Romano’s – Simpson’s more convivial sibling – offers something suspiciously tailored to this article: an “After the Applause” menu. Served from 21.45, Monday to Saturday, salade à la Russe is followed by pork-and-herb faggots and a chocolate éclair – a fittingly theatrical late supper in a dining room lined with portraits of playwrights.
100 Strand, WC2R 0EZ
If you have been reading headlines about department stores in the US recently, it might seem all doom and gloom, thanks to the demise of former titans of the sector such as Saks and Neiman Marcus. One department store that has been bucking such trends, however, is Bloomingdale’s, which is led by its quick-thinking French CEO, Olivier Bron, formerly of Bain & Company, Galeries Lafayette and Bangkok’s Central Group. He has been tightening the ship – trading on the brand’s reputable name and rethinking exactly what a department store should provide. Comparative sales in the first quarter of this year were up 10.2 per cent, part of a steady stream of positive growth figures. Bron spoke with Monocle’s chairman, Tyler Brûlé, from Paris.
Listen to the full conversation here and read an extract of the interview, below.
Some people think that the department store is back; others that it’s gone for good. What’s your view?
It’s a mixed picture. But when I hear people saying that department stores are dinosaurs, that’s not true. The department stores that we used to run 30 or 40 years ago are gone forever but the challenge, as in every aspect of retail, is about reinvention. If you go back to the source of department stores, they are meant to be places of discovery, where you can experience the products and have a close connection with them. This is still very relevant for customers.
Why should people visit Bloomingdale’s?
We want to bring back the DNA of the Bloomingdale’s brand – something that’s very special. The US is the biggest market in the world, with the biggest department-store players. Yet none of the world’s best department stores are in the US right now – and that’s crazy, when you think about it. So what we want to do is reposition Bloomingdale’s in terms of international standards. We have to deliver the same kind of experience in the US as they do in Asia and Europe. So we have to rethink the way that we’re designing department stores in the US and that’s exactly what we’re doing at Bloomingdale’s. We’re positioning our model from premium contemporary to high luxury and we want to bring this storytelling from the brands cascading down to the customer.
Obviously, you have the beloved department store on Third Avenue in New York – but where’s your focus?
Every city is a different market with different needs. We’re not selling the same thing in the same way in all the different cities. So being able to adapt your assortment, service and experience in the store in these different cities is extremely important. Right now, we’re renovating our flagship in New York to differentiate it from anything else that you can experience in the US, which is a massive step because it’s a landmark for us. We’re triggering the renovation of 10 stores in the next five years to re-elevate this experience and bring the best to the customer.
What’s happening with malls in the US right now? Bloomingdale’s is often an anchor but there are also frequently lots of empty, boxy spaces.
That’s fair. But we have the privilege and chance with Bloomingdale’s to only be in prime malls that are doing well. Most of them have strong traction and strong traffic. It’s very important for us to pick our battles and where we want to operate – and to be very clear on our positioning and what our customers target. This is exactly what’s happening.
How big a role will food play in Bloomingdale’s moving forward?
If you’re obsessed about getting a yield out of every inch of the store then that’s a problem because, honestly, you’re not thinking about the experience. When you’re overwhelmed by so much density, products and solicitation, you don’t have any moment to pause, to sit, to eat, to drink. You’re missing something. The best way of thinking about the customer relationship is in the long term. It’s about having customers who just spend time in our store. If it’s only about dollars, products and transactions, that’s a short-term perspective. We must rethink the way that we’re designing our store and our space to address the current needs of our customers.
For the full interview and Tyler Brûlé’s conversations with more top business leaders, listen to ‘The Chiefs’.
Back in 2019, Pete Buttigieg, then a Democratic presidential candidate and the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, released a list of his 10 favourite books. It was a predictable yet refreshingly honest selection that included both canonical works of Western literature (Homer’s Odyssey, James Joyce’s Ulysses) and obscurer, more contemporary works (such as Stephen Kotkin’s Armageddon Averted, a history of the Soviet Union’s collapse), alongside Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall – the moment’s obligatory commute read.
The list was refreshing because it was manifestly a reflection of Buttigieg’s personal interests and preoccupations, rather than a cringe-making attempt at political positioning. Compare it to, say, the then UK Labour Party leader Ed Miliband’s 2013 Desert Island Discs picks, which included Robbie Williams’s “Angels”, Neil Diamond’s perennial sing-along “Sweet Caroline” and the Hubert Parry anthem “Jerusalem” – a cynically focus-grouped man-of-the-people playlist if ever there was one. But Buttigieg’s apparent honesty was rewarded less with praise than with accusations of anti-intellectual posturing masquerading as egalitarianism, much of it from the online left. He was “Pete Bottygeek”, wrote one Twitter user – out of touch, pompous and elitist.
All of this came to mind when, at the end of last week, New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, announced the city’s new partnership with the Met Opera, in which 70,000 free tickets for performances will be handed out to residents over the next seven months. The initiative makes a lot of sense: the Met has long struggled to fill its seats and doing so in this way costs it almost nothing, while potentially creating a new generation of paying opera lovers. (In the US, the theatrical art form receives little ongoing state or national support in comparison to, say, Noh in Japan, which has a protected status as an Important Intangible Cultural Property.)
But alongside excitement over the plan was predictable sniping. On Elon Musk’s X, reactionary bots spread misinformation about how much taxpayer dollars the plan would cost (in reality, very little beyond the admin); snobs worried about whether those in possession of a free ticket would “dress appropriately”. Those for whom doing a good deed for its own sake is unfathomable declared the initiative nothing more than “virtue signalling”.
Considered a mainstream entertainment form from the 17th to the 19th centuries, opera has been the preserve of the wealthy for decades, partly because of the sheer expense of staging lavish productions involving dozens of musicians and performers. The resulting high ticket prices have made it a niche, luxury interest (despite what Nicholas Cage’s wild-haired, one-handed, Met-loving baker in Norman Jewison’s 1987 Cher vehicle Moonstruck might tell you). Cultural appetites have evolved too. There’s competition from cinema, TV, video games and social media, much of it now designed specifically to capture and hold attention. And maybe people are just more excited to see Tom Cruise in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new movie, Digger, or watch MrBeast on YouTube – which is fair enough. Richard Wagner might have considered opera to be “the complete art form” but it isn’t for everyone.
But this is why Mamdani’s initiative feels so bold. Like Buttigieg with his reading list, he has declared his support for an art form that many among his progressive-leaning base might instinctively dismiss as posh and pretentious. Since debates about the authority of literary and artistic canons came to a head in the 1980s and 1990s, there has been a conspicuous turn against Reithian notions of institutions’ responsibility to disseminate the best of human thought and creativity to as wide a public as possible. Of course, it remains crucial to interrogate what a canon includes and rejects, and the power structures that shape this process. But such a discussion is possible only when we can all access and assess what the powerful deem worthy of immortalisation. It’s why trade unions historically maintained libraries of key works for members to learn from; it’s also why Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books, launched affordable paperbacks in 1935, pricing them at the cost of a packet of cigarettes. A real man of the people doesn’t condescend and presume that blue-collar workers have no interest in classic works – that all they are capable of enjoying are MMA fights and fireworks.
The opera giveaway is just one of many similar initiatives that Mamdani has launched and probably won’t significantly change popular attitudes to “high” culture by itself. Some, with much justification, will continue to view it with suspicion. But let’s hope that it starts a more open discussion about the place of historically important works and the right of those of limited means – including tortured bakers – to enjoy them.
Yo Zushi is Monocle’s chief sub editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
Brazilian chef Luiz Filipe Souza pinpoints the 2019 Bocuse d’Or as a turning point in his career. Two years before the international culinary competition, he opened Evvai in São Paulo, serving high-end Italian fare. But at the prestigious championship, chefs are expected to represent their culture; it was there that Souza cooked Brazilian food professionally for the first time.
“It opened up a whole new palate,” says Souza. Having spent years working in Italy, he describes himself as a “super nerd” of Italian cooking – but he realised that he would never have the same connection to it as an Italian would. “I didn’t grow up at my grandmother’s side eating gnocchi – I ate rice and beans.” While training for the event, he would cook with native fruits, such as cupuaçu, baniwa chillies and tucupí – a fermented cassava sauce – in the mornings before heading to the restaurant at night to serve Italian food.
Souza began pushing Evvai down a more Brazilian path, fusing elements from both countries. In April it became one of the first two Latin American restaurants to earn three Michelin stars, joined by Tuju, another São Paulo institution.
Founded in 2014 by Ivan Ralston, Tuju initially served both tasting and à la carte menus, with dishes including steak tartare as well as steak and chips. Within months it earned a Michelin star – which Ralston thought was a hoax – and a second star followed in 2018. A two-year closure over the coronavirus pandemic led Ralston to travel around Brazil visiting various producers.
In the years since, Tuju has opened its own research centre, led by his partner Katherina Cordás, and has rewritten its menu to focus on seasonality in a distinctly Brazilian way. “We grow up hearing that Brazil doesn’t have seasons,” he says. However, the pair learned through their research that seasons in the São Paulo region differ from the northern hemisphere – they’re defined by precipitation.
Today, Tuju’s multi-course tasting menu is split into four seasonal indicators – rain, wind, drought and humidity. The menu for rainy-season – Brazil’s summer – includes dishes with squid, tomatoes and tamarind. It is followed by wind, when Jerusalem artichokes, clams and sardines hit their peak. The drought has root vegetables, such as cassava and carrots, while humidity welcomes artichokes and courgettes.
Ralston reckons veering away from Western standards has allowed Brazilian restaurants to shine. “We have to have our own language,” he says. “Maybe [it’s] a bit rougher but [it’s] more original.”
That approach earned Tuju an Art of Hospitality award in September from The 50, which maintains a list of best restaurants globally.
The growing Brazilianness of São Paulo’s food scene has been facilitated by a rapid improvement in its produce – including world-class cheeses, charcuterie and wine, often grown organically or biodynamically – and an increasing willingness among top chefs to incorporate native fruits and vegetables. Better ingredients have also allowed chefs to espouse Brazil’s bounty. While Evvai imports some Italian ingredients, Tuju uses little from abroad. “At Tuju, only 10 per cent of customers are foreign. I don’t want that to change,” says Ralston. “I want to be a restaurant that Brazilians come to.”
Starting to feel a bit peckish? Here are some of our favourite São Paulo restaurants for a distinctly Brazilian culinary experience.
Dom
When Alex Atala founded Dom in 1999, fine dining in São Paulo was still largely European. As with Ralston and Souza, it took cooking in Europe for Atala to realise that he wouldn’t be able to replicate those cuisines back home. So he scoured Brazil for techniques and ingredients – including the ants eaten in the Amazon – and shifted to a whole-heartedly Brazilian menu. In 2013 he was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people, and the restaurant has held two Michelin stars since 2015. Expect the likes of alligator with bacuri, a sweet-sour fruit; or veal in a coffee sauce. “Atala brought a different way of looking at things – a Brazilian way – which was unthinkable at the time,” says Ralston.
domrestaurante.com.br
Maní
Ralston describes Maní, which opened in 2006 and is where the chef began his career, as one of the most influential restaurants in Brazil’s history. After cooking in renowned restaurants such as El Celler de Can Roca in Spain, founder Helena Rizzo created a uniquely Brazilian take on fine dining by fusing Brazilian ingredients with inspiration from many of the immigrant communities that have made Brazil their home. That might include house-made hoshigaki (dried persimmon) in duck tartare or an escabeche-like dish using tambaqui, a large riverfish native to the country.
restaurantemani.com.br
A Casa do Porco
Unlike many of São Paulo’s high-end restaurants, A Casa do Porco isn’t located in a posh neighbourhood but in the often neglected (though rapidly gentrifying) downtown area. The restaurant focuses on pigs reared on the owners’ own farm and its course menu might include quirky dishes, such as pork temaki or pork soufflé, before ending on roast pork with rice, beans, banana and vegetables. The service is excellent while retaining a casual air (you’re welcome to dine in your flip flops and shorts), while those unable to secure a last-minute table can opt for an excellent pork sandwich from the takeaway hatch.
acasadoporco.com.br
Dêze
Dêze began life in the village of Caraíva, a popular holiday destination only accessible by boat, roughly 1,700km from São Paulo in the northeastern state of Bahia. Now, hoping to bring its food to a wider audience, it has relocated to Jardim Paulista, a smart neighbourhood in the heart of the metropolis teeming with restaurants. Dêze is an intimate affair with only 35 covers per evening, offering a tasting menu that incorporates influences from across the country. Like many top Brazilian chefs, Yuri Escobar’s menu focuses on seasonality and techniques commonly found in Europe’s top restaurants, such as curing and fermenting. Unusually in Brazil, however, he creates dishes that elevate vegetables to the same level as meat. Expect surprising combinations including sole with lentils and green papaya, or duck breast with fig, rhubarb and karashi (Japanese mustard).
dezerestaurante.com
Aizomê
São Paulo is home to the world’s largest Japanese community outside Japan, so it’s no surprise that the city is packed with excellent, high-end Japanese restaurants. While many are faithful to traditional Japanese fare, Telma Shiraishi of Aizomê explores a thoroughly modern approach, blending the two cultures in a cuisine that she calls “Nipo-Brazilian”.
Here, diners might find pirarucu saikyo yaki – a traditional method of grilling fish – or a ponzu made with tucupí. Diners at the elegant wood counter can opt for omakase, featuring some of the best sushi in town, or a number of private rooms for a more intimate celebration dinner. The saké selection is excellent and if you’re lucky you might be offered a glass of Japanese wine.
aizome.com.br
The spring/summer 2027 edition of Milan Fashion Week was one of consolidating visions as creative directors settled into their roles at Italian luxury houses. Prada focused on the single concept of a skirt, represented in 63 different ways, while Maria Grazia Chiuri’s second ready-to-wear collection for Fendi exhibited a loosening of house codes. Finally, Demna took show attendees to a makeshift Gucci shop. Here are the 10 shows that caught our attention.
1.
Prada
At the Italian fashion house’s spring/summer 2027 menswear show in June, co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons began a conversation about the power of paring things back and distilling ideas to their purest form, zooming in on the divisive skinny-trouser silhouette. The womenswear show continued to explore the same design principles. Here Prada and Simons chose to shine the spotlight on the skirt, which elicited a warmer reaction from the editors and buyers in attendance.
Described as a “Prada obsession” in the brand’s show notes, it was reimagined in a variety of styles, from playful and heavily embellished to pleated and collegiate. Some looks were paired with knitwear – a nod to Mrs Prada’s own uniform – while others were worn with printed crop tops, distressed leather jackets and sunglasses with mismatched lenses.
Prada and Simons argue that the perception of a piece of clothing and, by extension a person, can change depending on a few simple styling tricks. Along the way, they propose an array of different style personas that you can adopt come next spring, from librarian to raver. Prada’s beauty and commercial success lie in the brand’s ability to appeal to both.
prada.com
2.
Etro
Following creative director Marco de Vincenzo’s exit last March, Etro presented a spring/summer 2027 collection designed by its in-house studio. Without a creative steward at the helm, collections by fashion houses tend to lack fresh, bold ideas. Etro focused on remixing existing signatures: frilly, paisley dresses; airy kaftans; and plenty of fringed accessories and gladiator sandals that conjured up 1970s Ibiza.
Even if the collection didn’t push the house in a fresh direction, it highlighted its carefree, bohemian spirit – and its potential to become the go-to summer brand for customers who jet between Paros, Capri and the south of France every season. This crowd is currently clad head to toe in Pucci – the LVMH-owned label that has been enjoying a successful revival under designer Camille Miceli – but will soon start looking for a wardrobe update. With the right creative director hire, Etro could become the next big hit.
etro.com
3.
Jil Sander
Since his appointment as the creative director of Hamburg-founded brand Jil Sander in 2025, Simone Bellotti has built a fanbase of clients who seek him out for his ability to imbue minimalism with just the right amount of edge. This was the case at his latest spring/summer 2027 show, which explored the seductive charm of imperfection. “Creating a collection is like going to therapy,” says Bellotti. “You take things apart to understand what you want to keep. Then you put them back together.”
This season’s show mirrored a wave: how it builds up, crescendoes and inevitably crashes down again. It began with the rigour of a uniform: buttoned-up black blazers and grey car coats worn over suit trousers. Then slowly, movement emerged through ballooning proportions, scrunch details on knitwear and a colour palette that transitioned from muted hues to yellow, pink and baby blue. In the end, what remained was a sense of release, felt in the loosely styled jackets worn over unbuttoned shirts and jumpers strewn across shoulders – a reimagined uniform.
jilsander.com
4.
Fendi
In her second collection for Fendi, creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri has been having more fun. A sense of carefree abandon was palpable when her lineup of models strutted down the runway to disco hits by Rafaella Carrà, wearing feather-light slip dresses, fur stoles in unexpected shades of turquoise and hints of animal print.
Chiuri kept returning to a line from a 1925 poem by EE Cummings – “I like my body when it is with your body” – which was printed on the invitation to the show and turned into a visual installation, lighting up the entrance. The quote got her thinking about “clothes as second skin”, hence the transparent silks that resemble undergarments, lace trims and loosely tailored vests in her new range. Ever the romantic, Chiuri described her airy spring/summer clothes as “porous to emotions” and amplified the hippie spirit with fringed accessories and folkloric vests. In doing so, she has channelled a collective sentiment of freedom and optimism – and her collection will surely appeal to the loyal customer base that she built during her tenure at Dior.
fendi.com
5.
Marni
Belgian designer Merryl Rogge presented her second collection for Marni in a captivating space conceived by Italian design studio Formafantasma. The wooden panels from last season’s set were cut and taken apart, exposing the raw walls of the building, while graphic, powder-blue stools created a sense of polish.
The setting captured the newly installed creative director’s design philosophy: she is seeking a sense of continuity, both adding to and subtracting from Marni’s existing design language. For spring/summer 2027, she leaned into the label’s long-established quirky flair, creating unexpected combinations of leather and nylon, as well as extreme silhouettes such as minuscule skirts and extra-large blazers that carry a hint of Prada. Her reference points varied from the 1960s to the early 2000s; she played with an array of adornments from sequins to metal hardware and embraced a wide colour palette, adding splashes of green and orange to neutral, tailored looks. A series of embellished sack dresses, including a leather number that supermodel Mariacarla Boscono wore to close the show, was among the highlights.
Rogge still has to refine her language for Marni and find her signature look. But in the meantime, she is giving her customers a license to forget the rules and have fun.
marni.com
6.
Tod’s
While conceptualising Tod’s latest collection, Matteo Tamburini thought about personal style and how we acquire it – through the images that we absorb, the films that we watch and our instinct “to recognise beauty in life’s simple pleasures”.
He translated this “deeply Italian” flair for simple pleasures into a series of classic opening looks, featuring Bermuda shorts paired with boyish sweaters and oversized blazers. As the show progressed, he made some bolder statements in the form of perforated leather trench coats and graphic, colour-blocked skirts that combined modernism with a more relaxed, summer attitude.
Models, including artist Conie Vallese, walked confidently down the runway in new tasselled or perforated iterations of the brand’s famous Gommino loafer, which is quickly emerging as the hero shoe of the season. With the right merchandising and communications strategies that take advantage of the momentum and reinforce Tamburini’s compelling vision, the Italian label could generate a new level of interest in its signature shoes next season – and seize a host of opportunities in the ready-to-wear sector too.
tods.com
7.
Gucci
For the setting of his spring/summer 2027 show, Georgian designer Demna transformed a convention centre into a prototype of his vision: a Gucci shop complete with velvet seating and shelves stacked with leather goods. The collection was unveiled in two parts. First a series of monochromatic suits gave way to a preppier array of rugby stripes, white chinos and upturned collars worn by models who could easily be mistaken for business students at Milan’s prestigious Bocconi University. Then triple-stacked black leather belts on lowslung jeans were paired with bomber jackets – an edgier look that evoked Demna’s time at Balenciaga.
Gucci’s womenswear collection continued the theme of prep alla Milanese with jumpers tied around shoulders, more upturned shirt collars and riding boots. It drew on the archetype of the sciura in oversized sunglasses, clutching a monogrammed bag close to her trench coat or crisp white shirt dress. A trajectory towards goth style and youth culture was also apparent, with pagoda shoulders and kohl-rimmed eyes, while the finale consisted of figure-hugging dresses – à la Tom Ford – and glamorous eveningwear to round out the collection. The only thing left for Demna to hope for is that the subliminal messaging of the show’s retail-themed setting helps the Kering-owned brand with sales after a multi-year slump.
gucci.com
8.
Ferragamo
With coffee-coloured suits, burnt-orange balloon trousers and an olive-green crocodile-leather dress, Maximilian Davis’ latest collection for Italian luxury house Ferragamo brimmed with earthy hues and sensuality. The British fashion designer honed in on silhouettes with cinched waists, pencil skirts and military pockets, drawing inspiration from the 1940s when women were entering the workforce. “It was a period when clothing – and its structure – created a certain posture, when the placement of a pocket would dictate how you would stand and behave,” says Davis. “I wanted to take elements of that silhouette and modernise it.”
To offset the sense of propriety, there was no shortage of rubber and sheer fabrics. Transparent trench coats and dresses, as well as diaphanous blouses and trousers, brought a grown-up feel to the collection – a reflection of how Davis is evolving and maturing his vision for the Florentine luxury house.
ferragamo.com
9.
Moschino
Moschino’s newly appointed creative directors Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina are accustomed to swimming against the current. As the co-founders of Milanese brand Sunnei, the duo would often stage high-concept presentations, from crowd surfing at their shows to holding a mock auction in collaboration with Christie’s. For their debut at Moschino, Rizzo and Messina took over the rooftop of a parking garage on the outskirts of Milan. Hundreds of people came streaming in, recreating a busy street.
Then models emerged from the opposite direction. The collection’s palette was vibrant, with trench coats, wafty dresses and bags in an eye-catching citrine. Plenty of intentionally off-putting details also graced the show, such as a cat-shaped clutch and skirts with voluminous derrières – displaying a propensity for the odd that the new creative directors share with the founder, Franco Moschino. It will be worth watching closely over the coming seasons how Rizzo and Messina, with a new platform to riff off, will continue to push the boundaries of what Milan’s fashion scene should represent.
moschino.com
10.
Armani
Under a disco ball in the concrete vault of the Armani/Silos theatre, Silvana Armani presented an eminently wearable spring/summer 2027 collection, which featured monochromatic sets, Bermuda shorts and boxy outerwear. “The jackets recall the clean tailoring of the 1980s,” says Silvana backstage after the show.
Since taking over the role of head of womenswear from her late uncle, Giorgio Armani, in 2025, the designer has been safekeeping the house’s codes while ushering in discreet adjustments, such as introducing cotton to the line-up for the first time. “[Giorgio] didn’t like it saying it wasn’t sophisticated enough, but I love it,” she says. And it wouldn’t be an Armani show without eveningwear: tuxedo dresses, bustier tops and dresses scintillated under bright spotlights. A recurring motif was the butterfly appliqué – perhaps a symbol of metamorphosis as the brand faces its next chapter.
armani.com
Few cities generate a quasi-religious fervour for fashion quite like Milan. In the Lombard capital, brands tack billboards onto scaffolding covering churches under renovation. A commercial for Miss Dior perfume plays on a loop on the side of the Duomo, in stark contrast to the cathedral’s gothic architecture. Near the Quadrilatero della Moda, Milan’s upscale shopping district, the tympaneum of the church of San Babila is adorned with placards for Prada. Passing by is a steady stream of people carrying armfuls of shopping bags, proudly associating themselves with their denomination of choice. Are you a Gucci glamourpuss? Or do you worship at the craft-first altar of Bottega Veneta?
With Milan Fashion Week concluding yesterday, the Italian fashion industry must continue to keep the faith in the face of a 10 per cent decline in revenue over the past three years due to geopolitical volatility, the impact of US tariffs on exports and a slowdown in Chinese consumer demand. As designers settle into their roles and consolidate their visions for their brands, pressure mounts to reverse the slump in sales. To respond to this tighter market, the key might be to foster a cult following – a feat easier said than done, and one that requires perseverance.
Take, for example, Milan’s high priestess of fashion, Mrs Prada (as she is reverently referred to in the industry). After 50 years at the helm of the brand, her status as Milan’s spiritual leader seems to be reaching an apotheosis. Last week, Prada provided the opening act, moving its traditional Thursday afternoon slot to Tuesday. At the Fondazione Prada, Mrs Prada and her co-creative director Raf Simons narrowed in on skirts – 63 of them to be precise – on a perspex floor lit up by strobe lights. That evening, thousands of the house’s closest friends piled into the Fondazione to rave until the early hours in the new, Prada-approved combination of stilettos and socks.
There was also the unveiling of Prada’s flagship in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. At the centre of the 19th-century shopping arcade, the brand has expanded its historic Milanese home with a pair of four-storey shops, linked by an underground passageway. The outposts include a Marchesi pasticceria, the latest ready-to-wear collections, leather goods, beauty, private shopping suites and a Pradasphere exhibition that traces the history of the brand. “In these years of uncertainty, we’re allowing people who love the brand to immerse themselves and to understand that this is not just a label,” Prada Group CEO Andrea Guerra tells Monocle. “There are roots. There is a culture. There is heart.”
While Prada set the tone of the week, Giorgio Armani closed it out on Sunday. In the concrete vault of the Tadao Ando-designed Armani/Silos, models wore monochromatic suits, Bermuda shorts and jackets with graphic prints before a selection of scintillating eveningwear and silky tuxedoes during the finale. Backstage after the show, Silvana Armani, the late Giorgio Armani’s niece and the label’s creative director of womenswear, spoke about her intention to evolve the house’s codes. “I introduced cotton, which [Giorgio] didn’t like because it wasn’t sophisticated enough,” she says. “The past is always a reference but we try to modernise the designs.”
Perhaps it’s leaps of faith like these that will amount to a label’s credibility over time and, subsequently, its ability to build a following. Or perhaps it’s the subliminal messaging of church-adjacent advertising.
Grace Charlton is Monocle’s fashion editor. For more fashion updates, subscribe to Monocle today.
It’s easy to assume that Italy’s design world is made up of Milan – and Milan alone. The city is home to the likes of Dimore Studio, as well as shiny showrooms for big-hitter brands from Cassina to B&B Italia. It’s also where the buzz around Salone del Mobile (and its accompanying Milan Design Week) seems to dwarf everything else. I know because I’ve spent years reporting on it.
But breaking out of the must-visit itineraries and the trade-show circuit can be a good thing, as proved by a visit to the recently concluded Lake Como Design Festival. Now on its eighth edition, the event has highlighted talent and showcased what makes Como a special setting for design. Because, let’s face it, setting is important.
As you stomp around fairs where commercial deals are thrashed out under artificial lighting, you can forget that design is a celebration of beauty, function and craft. Just look at the success of the Alcova platform in Milan, which often sets its exhibitions inside intriguing, underused or semi-abandoned buildings that tell a story about the city’s past (and, for that matter, its present).
The Lake Como festival – which is, as its name suggests, a celebration of design rather than a B2B event – is also a reminder that there is much more to the city than its lidos and the amphibious tourist planes. One of the aces up the festival’s sleeve is its regular venue, the 15th-century Villa del Grumello. Alongside the sparkling light reflected from the lake that floods its rooms, the villa also has something particular to lakeside properties: a darsena, a cavernous cellar where water flows under the villa for boats to dock, protected from the elements. This year, Luciano Baldessari’s 1929 Luminator Barcellona – a twisting floor light designed for the Barcelona International Exposition to mimic the form of a dancer on stage – was displayed under moody red lighting with a balletic effect. It’s not something that could be achieved in a showroom or an airless trade-show setting.
Perhaps the most memorable segment of the festival relied on its surroundings. Arranged along a path inside the villa’s gardens – with more views of the lake poking through the trees – was an exhibition titled In Nature: Stories of Those Who Have Chosen Another Life. The work of journalist Paola Manfredi and photographer Selene Magnolia Gatti, which captured this year’s theme of the “Confine” (Border), was displayed at intervals as six large portraits. Accompanying texts explained the people in the photos, whose rural alpine lives are closely linked to nature. Was this strictly design? I’m not sure. Was it enhanced by the setting? Absolutely.
The design press can often get caught up on the latest chair, colourway or business deal but sometimes we forget to look around. Great design needs context, even if it might still be somewhat removed from our own daily lives (sadly I’m yet to acquire a lakeside pile or an Alcova-style former factory). Lake Como Design Festival is a reminder that our surroundings have the power to shape how we feel. If nothing else, it’s nice to get out of the trade halls and visit the lake on a balmy autumn day.
Ed Stocker is Monocle’s Milan-based Europe editor at large. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
Since acquiring Agnona in 2020, Stefano Aimone – the label’s CEO, creative director and sole owner – has doubled down on the luxury Italian brand’s heritage and textile expertise. He has also solidified its presence in Milan with a flagship on Via Santo Spirito and headquarters on Via Archimede. This season, Aimone presented his latest womenswear and menswear collections, which feature double-faced cashmere coats, wraparound shirts and silk sets. Here he discusses why beauty should be a part of everyday life and resisting distribution for distribution’s sake.
How do you balance being both creative director and CEO?
The positions enrich each other. There are moments when you have to change your way of thinking very quickly. One conversation can be about a fabric, technique or the proportions of a coat. The next can be about retail or the future of the business. But for me, they are not separate worlds. As creative director, I am thinking about what Agnona should represent and as CEO, I have the responsibility to make sure that this vision has longevity.
It also means that there are fewer layers between an idea and its execution. I can ask: “Does this feel right for Agnona? Does it make sense for our customer? Is it something that we will still believe in five or 10 years from now?” If the answer is yes, we can act on it. I think that creativity becomes stronger when you understand the reality around it, that business becomes more interesting when it is guided by a very clear creative point of view. The balance between commerce and creativity is delicate and continuously in flux.
Where do you see the opportunities today for an independent brand such as Agnona?
Independence gives us the freedom to be very precise about who we are and today that is incredibly valuable. Since acquiring Agnona, I have felt that we are in quite a rare position. There’s something almost embryonic about it: the possibility to shape a house with the curiosity, energy and freedom of something new but within a shell that has been refined for more than 70 years. We are not starting from zero. We are starting with extraordinary knowledge, history and material expertise. In a way, Agnona feels both young and mature at the same time, which gives us enormous creative freedom.
It’s not about becoming bigger for the sake of being bigger. It’s about becoming stronger and more distinctive. We can make decisions based on what feels right; invest in extraordinary materials, craft and innovation; and remain very close to the people who make and wear our clothes. We can choose quality over volume and longevity over immediacy. We don’t need to shout to reach the right people. Luxury is about being personal, discovering something exceptional, understanding how and why it was made and wanting to live with it for many years.
Agnona was founded in 1953, so I am very conscious of what we have inherited – but also of what we have left behind. Our responsibility is not simply to preserve that heritage but to keep it alive, question it, experiment with it and allow it to evolve. For me, that is perhaps the greatest opportunity of being independent – to have the freedom of a new beginning without losing the wisdom of age.
Which markets are the most interesting at the moment? Do you see more opportunities in a direct-to-consumer approach or through department stores and wholesale partners?
For us, it’s less about pursuing markets simply because they’re large than identifying places where there is a genuine understanding of Agnona, of material, craftsmanship and seasonality.
Italy is naturally very important to us and opening our new flagship in Milan this year was a significant moment. Milan is our home, so it was important to create a space where people could enter the world of Agnona to experience the materials, the architecture and the collection together in one environment. The shop is a physical expression of the house, of where we are going, with links to art, culture and authenticity.
Gstaad is the next important step for us. Agnona has a natural relationship with its landscape, climate, international community and, of course, its appreciation of exceptional cashmere and pieces that are luxurious but designed to be lived in. I’m interested in opening shops and working with teams that Agnona feels culturally and emotionally at home in, rather than simply accumulating addresses.
South Korea is also a strong market for us. It’s home to an extremely sophisticated customer base with a deep appreciation for quality, fabrication and design – and the subtleties of what we do. Agnona has its own presence in Seoul alongside some very strong retail partners.
In the UK, Harrods is a very special partner for us. Agnona’s concession gives us a home from home in London, now within the newly developed first-floor womenswear environment. Harrods provides exceptional care to its international and domestic customers, which makes it an important expression and custodian of the brand in the UK.
I am less interested in defining the business as direct-to-consumer or wholesale than in thinking about the quality of Agnona’s presence. The two models are different expressions of the same ecosystem and I think a healthy brand needs both intimacy and discovery. Our own shops allow us to build the world of Agnona with absolute clarity but there is also real value in customers encountering us within a highly considered, multi-brand environment. Department stores place the house in a broader cultural and commercial conversation and, with the right partner, can bring relevance and perspective that you can’t replicate on your own.
It’s important today to resist distribution for distribution’s sake. Where it is present, how it is presented and what surrounds it all contribute to the perception of a house. In that sense, distribution is also a creative decision. For Agnona, the ambition is therefore not ubiquity but relevance: a considered network of our own spaces and exceptional partners, each contributing something different to the way that customers discover and experience the house.
What was your ambition for the latest collection?
I wanted the collection to have a feeling of movement. We called it “Coast to Coast” but the journey is not only about travelling from one geographical point to another. It’s about how the motion and process of travel change your state of mind.
It begins in the city and gradually becomes more relaxed as you move through the countryside and towards the sea. The wardrobe changes with that journey, beginning with the precision of lightweight double cashmere and tailoring. Then linen, silk, perforated leather, crochet and embroidery bring more air and freedom into the clothes. It’s a journey from contained and curated to relaxed and reflective.
My ambition was to create a complete summer wardrobe that could move with a person rather than dictate how they should live. There is sophistication but also a sense of ease. For me, successful design and relevant luxury garments should give you that freedom.
How would you describe Italian sensibility in fashion?
I think that there is an Italian instinct for bringing beauty into everyday life. It’s not necessarily about formality or decoration. It can be the proportions of a jacket, the feel of a fabric, the way that someone sets a table or the particular light in a room. A joy in creating and sharing beauty in an everyday environment.
There’s also a strong relationship between the hand and the eye in Italy. We have generations of knowledge about textiles, tailoring, leather and manufacturing but I’m interested in when knowledge doesn’t become nostalgic. Craft has to remain alive, which is why I knew that it would be important to build the atelier, archive and rooftop greenhouse as part of the new Agnona HQ – a trifecta to create, grow and learn.
Agnona respects extraordinary materials and techniques but we don’t want them to feel precious in a way that makes them untouchable. You should wear the cashmere, travel in it, live in it. Perhaps this approach is quite Italian too: beauty should be part of life.
agnona.com
