Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

This week, we set sail for Nantucket in the island’s iconic red trousers, vent our frustrations with airlines’ 'very busy' customer-relations tactics and sit down with Island Records’ rebel with a cause Darcus Beese, while the Concierge guides us on a gastronomic tour of Galicia. But first, Andrew Tuck relishes the Monocle’s mobility-themed September issue…

One of the nice things about a return to Midori House this week was getting my hands on the September edition of Monocle – the mobility special on sale now. It was sitting on my desk as I got in bright and early on Tuesday and, with only the early birds of Monocle Radio’s The Globalist crew in the building, I had time to slowly turn the pages and remind myself of what we had committed to ink before two weeks of Mallorcan distractions on my summer sojourn.

Even after all these years, I still experience an odd mix of trepidation and excitement as I flick through fresh pages for the first time. Did every proof correction get taken in? Have the pictures printed with clarity? Will there be a blank page just as I saw in my print-related nightmare? In previous jobs there were heart-stopping moments when, perusing the pages of first copies, whole sections were bound in upside down or somehow duplicated. Not happy memories. Thankfully, it’s usually all dandy. But even though you’ve pinned up every page on the editing wall, seen flurries of proofs and read every word every which way, a certain magic occurs at the printers that leaves you holding a magazine which can still surprise – in a good way.

I was especially keen to see our September issue because we’ve changed up the cover style. It’s a single image, a photograph shot on an SBB train in Zürich Hauptbahnhof by Fritz Beck for our fashion pages. Styled by Kyoko Tamoto, it features the model Takayuki Suzuki, pensive, hand to chin and, in large type, the words “Where Next?”. It looks great – our world anew. It’s that flash of red from Suzuki’s jumper. And those two fitting words for a mobility-themed issue that also asks a larger question of life as summer fades here in the north to an awaiting autumn.

You would think that the person behind these covers, our creative director Richard Spencer Powell, would be high fiving everyone. But each time someone has expressed their enthusiasm for the cover, he’s looked increasingly dejected. It’s the burden of success. He’s worried that his summer smash hit will be hard to follow, that he’s launched this new look with too much of a bang. But I’m confident that he’s the Sabrina Carpenter of design and there are plenty more bangers just waiting, like autumn, to be released. By way of guarantee, the whole art team is heading to Paris for visual inspiration.

But a cover isn’t enough (sorry Rich). I enjoy putting together our mobility issues because the content always moves toward the new and surprising. We unpack everything from walking to aviation; we look at how design, economics and the environment shape how we commute across cities and the globe; and we tone down talk of flying taxis while dialling up the conversation about pragmatic solutions. There are so many stories that I like in this issue but one of the best is Alexis Self’s dispatch on the transformation of Brussels from car-clogged metropolis to a pleasant nirvana for pedestrians and cyclists, and why many people preferred it just how it was. It’s the tale of our times – the struggle for our streets – and Alexis lets everyone share their perspective.

On Wednesday we had a summer staff party for Monocle and Wink, our sister company. Three venues, food, drinks and dancing. I thought I would sneak off at 20.00 but got home at 02.00. We also brought this issue’s cover to life thanks to our model, Suzuki-san, who joined the party. He’s tall, stylish, good company and in addition to his acting chops (Tokyo Vice, Midsomer Murders), showed us he can sing some decent karaoke as well. Here was that moment of magic again, that confluence of elements that made the new cover so perfect; in a word, charisma. I watched all our team drawn in to talking to him – that strange skill of many models to be alluring but relatable. But I’m sure they say the same about me.

Ahead of August’s final stretch, expect to see red on Massachusetts ferries (writes Gregory Scruggs). Nantucket red, in particular, is that salmon colour – or is it lightly boiled lobster? – adored and adorned by the preppy set, especially in the summer-trouser department. Fashion historians trace the distinctive weathered pink hue to 19th-century Brittany, where fishermen dyed canvas sails to prevent mildew and used the leftover textiles for clothing.

The salty look sailed across the Atlantic and took hold in 20th-century Nantucket courtesy of clothier Philip C Murray, who began selling red trousers to Boston Brahmins. No less a New England style icon than John F Kennedy played golf in Nantucket red, setting a trend at his alma mater, Harvard. Unlike the colour itself, the trend didn’t fade over time. When I enrolled at Harvard four decades later, Nantucket red was no less prominent – though my own pair was more a Bosphorus red, as I picked them up from Turkish denim outfit Mavi.

But for the true original, you’ll have to visit Murray’s Toggery Shop in downtown Nantucket, as Joe Biden often does on his annual family Thanksgiving trip to the island each November. When strolling over to the Whaling Museum in your new shorts, don’t be surprised if they match the door on a quaint Cape Cod cottage. On an island with strictly enforced architectural guidelines, Nantucket red is one of just a dozen approved historic paint colours. Alas, Moby Dick white is not among them – but you’ll still have a whale of a time.

Regular readers of The Monocle Weekend Edition: Saturday may recall my recent suggestion that passengers annoyed by flight cancellations were actually an opportunity for airlines to make a good, offsetting impression – by making a sincere and conspicuous effort to fix things (writes Andrew Mueller). I cited British Airways (BA) as an example of how not to do it: it was then 35 days of silence since I’d applied for compensation for a cancelled flight. It is, as I write this, 66 days into the process (or lack thereof) and the only communications have been a few placeholder emails from BA explaining that they’re very busy. It’s a common customer-relations tactic but remains utterly mystifying.

Consider the subtexts. The company concerned is implicitly admitting that it’s woefully understaffed – and that what staff it does employ are absolutely swamped. The company is also implying that its time is more valuable than yours, as these brush-offs never acknowledge that you might be busy as well, or that you’re not getting paid for your participation in this tedious interaction. So fatuous, hollow and counter-productive is the “we’re very busy” gambit that an errant company might actually do better by taking the opposite tack: “We’re not actually interested in whatever the hell your problem is”; “We’ll get around to this when we can be bothered, don’t hold your breath”; “Your call – and we cannot over-emphasise this – is not important to us.” This way customers would still be annoyed but at least we’d feel reassured that we weren’t being lied to.

The Monocle Concierge is our purveyor of top tips and delectable recommendations for your next trip. If you’re planning to go somewhere nice and would like some advice, clickhere. We will answer one question a week.

*Dear Concierge,

My wife and I are planning to walk for five to seven days on the Camino de Santiago along the northern coast of Spain. In contrast to other pilgrims, we want to make it a gastronomic and almost luxurious experience. Any recommendations on unique places to stay and eat along the route?

Sergii Pershyn*

Dear Sergii,

If gastronomy is what you’re after then northern Spain will not disappoint. It’s the perfect pilgrimage for foodies. Though the route originated as a path for pilgrims, today many intrepid hikers – like you – choose to indulge in the generous gastronomical offerings found along the way. Depending on which route you choose, we recommend a stop-off in A Coruña. Situated on a promontory on the Costa Ártabra, sample a chuletón steak (a rib cut) at Charrúa Coruña. See it charred on the grill before your eyes and wash it down with a glass of velvety Guimaro Finca Meixeman wine from the Ribeira Sacra region in the heart of Galicia.

Making your way south from A Coruña to Santiago de Compostela, seek out restaurateur Iago Pazos’s restaurant Abastos 2.0 in the Mercado de Abastos among the bustle of apron-clad farmers selling their harvest. Pazos prides himself on simple market fare informed by the produce of his native city: think fresh grilled pulpo (octopus), tartar de caballa (mackerel tartare) and berberechos al vapor (steamed cockles). On the fringes of the Old Town, Anaco is a refined spot which puts a Japanese spin on Galician classics. Chef Víctor Lobejón uses rice wine vinegar and kimchi to bring out the flavours of the fresh seafood. Finish at the humble Taberna O Gato Negro, the oldest tavern in the city’s historic centre. Specialising in Ribeiro wines and situated just moments from the revered Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, here your pilgrimage will draw to a classic close. It’s a veritable Galician establishment where locals get their fix of sardine-filled empanadas and bright green piles of padrón peppers atop the marble bar. Boa viaxe!

Darcus Beese is the former president and CEO of Island Records – a company he joined as the promotions department’s tea maker. As an artists and repertoire (A&R) executive for Island, he worked with Amy Winehouse, Mumford & Sons, Florence & The Machine, Dizzee Rascal, Jessie J, U2 and The Sugababes, among others. He is the son of activists Darcus Howe and Barbara Beese. His new memoir is Rebel With A Cause: Roots, Records & Revolutions.

You write about your entry to the music business as a happy accident. Did you have any sense of a mission inherited from your parents, or did it just look like fun?
It was: wow, this looks like fun. As a young black man, you know that not all doors are open. I wasn’t going to follow mum and dad into activism, or mum into teaching or dad into writing. I had to find my own way. I didn’t know anybody in the music industry. I didn’t come from a musical family. I just loved my cassettes and music made me feel, viscerally, so I made my own way.

Was there a moment as you came up through Island that made you think: I might be quite good at this?
I had severe imposter syndrome. When I first got into the music industry, everybody played an instrument and was in a band. I didn’t play any instrument. I was black within a white room and I always felt like I was being tolerated, perhaps because of the optics. I’d had loads of success but it wasn’t until I woke up one Monday morning, looked at the charts and had the number-one single with The Sugababes, and the number-one album with Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, that I thought I should be untouchable.

Is there something to be said for imposter syndrome, though, as an insulation against entitlement?
I never wanted to feel entitled. Because when I came into this industry and looked around, there were a lot of entitled people. I just didn’t feel I was entitled, so I had to go twice as hard, maybe even four times as hard, as my counterparts. It can become draining. You’re just relentlessly trying to repeat the success. And that’s a pressure, because every time you have success, people want more – and you have to give it because it’s your job.

Have you been able to stay as excited about new music?
That comes few and far between nowadays but it doesn’t mean that those few can’t become more or create zeitgeist moments. So yes, I’ve seen it all. But I still believe that there’s always something around the corner to make you feel in a profound way, to be in a room with people in a certain communal moment and hear something, and watch everybody get the same sense of something.

For our full interview with Darcus Beese tune in to Monday’s edition ofThe Monocle Daily, on Monocle Radio

Tennis-inspired style has risen in popularity this year. It’s why Swiss performance brand On and Japanese label Beams have joined forces to serve up their own take on the look.

Informed by the green in the Wimbledon logo, the new capsule includes T-shirts, shorts, windbreakers and trainers featuring the Swiss and Japanese flags, perforated panels and thick white soles.

For more ace reporting, pick up a copy of Monocle’s latest issue or subscribe today. Have a great Saturday.