Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

We’re getting you ahead of the game this weekend with a dispatch that covers a lot of ground in a short time. We browse the late, great Barry Humphries’s personal art collection that’s going under the Christie’s hammer, check out Le Bon Marché’s rebranded womenswear line and paint the town red with Zona Maco founder Zélika García. Then: a Sri Lankan chapter in our literary road trip and why Anglo-French banter has gone belly up. We begin with a missive from our editor in chief, Andrew Tuck.

1
For once the call of the gym beats the tender caress of the duvet. I step out of the house and into the mews and there, waiting for me, is a fox. A fine fellow too. We both stare at each other for a while, just feet apart. His coat is glossy and resplendent. As I break away and head on to the gym, he starts trotting along behind me. For a moment I have visions of him accompanying me all the way to my workout – now that would be a head-turner of a gym buddy. Then, at the end of the mews, he pauses, has second thoughts and turns back. Probably off for a lovely breakfast, lucky fellow.

2
After a series of intravenous chemotherapy treatments, the dog oncologist (a person who treats dogs as opposed to a hound with medical expertise) says that we must move our fox terrier, Macy, on to a maintenance dose delivered in pill form. There’s a small risk that it might induce cystitis, so we will need to regularly test her pee. To do this, we will have to capture some of her, well, you get the picture. “I suggest you take a ladle on your morning walk and, when she starts, simply get it in position,” says the vet – apparently with a straight face – to my partner, David. It all sounds highly unlikely. Macy’s a nervous enough character as it is without cumbersome cooking utensils being manoeuvred under her, mid-flow. So to ensure it’s viable, David has a trial run and after his experiment I am the recipient of a triumphant call. “The ladle’s a no-go but you can do it with a dessert spoon,” he tells me. I am not sure what the neighbours made of the spectacle but for once I find the offer of a pudding that night rather easy to decline. This is going to be good for my waistline – perhaps the fox and I can forgo our morning rendezvous.

3
Dinner with friends this past Friday nearly ends before it starts. The maître d’ offers to show us to our table. He walks us past cute banquettes filled with merry souls, beyond some rather nice candle-lit spots filled with happily chattering folk and then delivers us to a sort of sunken den that’s silent and almost totally concealed from the rest of the restaurant. A small protest – mostly from me – and a table is secured in the dining room proper. Restaurants are about the crowd, the theatre of the room, and not about finding yourself in a padded cell. The host insists that some diners prefer to eat in isolation, some even request this spot. Surely these people just need a takeaway app?

4
Tyler messages that he’s just seen the film September 5 and that I need to see it. Since I’m in full Oscar-nominee-catch-up mode, I add it to the list (it’s up for best screenplay). Director Tim Fehlbaum’s movie is set during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich when terrorists took 11 Israeli athletes hostage. The real focus, however, is on the ABC sports crew who find themselves covering, live, a terrorist attack (some 900 million people will eventually tune in). There are numerous strands to the film but one of the key elements is the decisions people make under intense pressure. The ABC team struggles with the competing demands of a hungry audience, ratings, their journalistic need to tell the story – and their conscience. It’s also a story about crisis management: a film without heroes, just fallible people forced to make split-second decisions.

5
Tomorrow I am heading to Dubai for the World Governments Summit as Monocle Radio has a big presence. We also have a pop-up café, which will be offering fine coffee and magazines. The event attracts thousands of delegates and speakers from Elon Musk to Tony Blair, plus a vast cast of PMs, presidents and global CEOs. If you are attending, come and say hello. There’s also a chance to find both myself and Mr Brûlé on stage moderating some great panels.

Le Bon Marché’s rebranded womenswear line is a strong sign that spending power at Paris’s department stores remains in fine fettle (writes Claudia Jacob). Known as Maison Rive Gauche (Left Bank House), the iconic department store tapped Anglo-French fashion entrepreneur Alexandra Van Houtte to create the pret-à-porter capsule aimed at reviving its original ready-to-wear line established 30 years ago. It's in-house labels such as this one that are enticing clientele back to Haussmannian shopping temples. Galeries Lafayette and Printemps have also introduced private brands over the past few years in an effort to drive growth and offer luxury alternatives.

While the LVMH-owned Le Bon Marché has become a flagbearer for French-made goods, Van Houtte wants the collection to feel universally accessible. “I would love to see women from New York or Lyon wearing the collection, not just Parisiennes,” she says. The 15-piece capsule includes a chic black trench coat, a silk skirt and a bomber jacket. “There’s a cliché of the Parisian woman in a black blazer and a white T-shirt,” adds Van Houtte. “I’ve included those classics in the collection – but it’s also a little bit cheeky.”
lebonmarche.com

The late, great Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries was, curiously, never seen in the same room as Dame Edna Everage, Melbourne’s most terrifying matriarch, nor was he ever seen under the same table as Aussie cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson (writes Robert Bound). But he was occasionally photographed at home, suited and spry, in elegant rooms decorated with paintings and sculptures and lined with shelves upon shelves of rare and notable books. It’s this trove of impeccable taste, titled “Barry Humphries: The Personal Collection”, that Christie’s will auction in London on 13 February.

Humphries’ literary taste was omnivorous but his penchant for fin-de-siècle writers, particularly Oscar Wilde, is reflected here in a first edition of The Importance of Being Earnest (est. €120,000 – €180,000) and an edition of Salome (est. €47,000 – €70,000) inscribed to his love Lord Alfred Douglas. In a similar realm are many unique pencil sketches and more complete works by Max Beerbohm and Aubrey Beardsley, including a hilariously sour-faced self-portrait of the latter. Humphries also possessed an encyclopaedic collection of works from the English 19th-century painter Charles Conder, whose landscapes lie halfway between the naturalistic and impressionistic. The lovely “Sand Dunes, Ambleteuse” is expected to fetch up to €360,000. After a spell in Melbourne, Conder ended up in a London boho-Soho set in the early 1900s and became increasingly interested in big gowns and operatic make-up.

And there it is: the sound of the elephant in the room finally trumpeting. Yes, some of Dame Edna’s ephemera will also go under the hammer and for a snip, including a few pairs of trademark gaudy specs (average est. €1,200 to €1,800); gowns – the best of which is a blue-sequinned number designed by Stephen Adnitt that could go for anywhere up to €6,000 – and a joyous pen-and-ink sketch of that indomitable Moonee Ponds housewife by Al Hirschfeld (€7,100 to €12,000). Quite how these lurid items found a home in Humphries’ elegant salons is anyone’s guess.

In his essay, The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, George Orwell attempted to distil the essences of Englishness (writes Andrew Mueller). Alongside the clog-clattering of Lancashire, the pintable rattle of Soho, the old maids ploughing through morning mist to communion, et cetera, he should have added: “and making fun of the French”. It is, even more than football or cricket, England’s national sport.

Wretchedly, the Royal Navy has declined an opportunity to participate in this merriment. It has been decided that its newest submarine will undergo a last-minute change of name, apparently to avoid provoking grumbling from across the Channel. The boat was to be christened HMS Agincourt, after the 1415 battle in which Henry V’s archers scattered Charles d’Albret’s infantry. It will instead be renamed HMS Achilles – presumably because there are no Trojans left to upset.

This is all terrifically silly, not least as the Royal Navy already sails the frigate HMS Iron Duke, which is an arguably even less tactful honouring of Napoleon’s nemesis. The modern Anglo-French rivalry, generally expressed in genial bickering about food, culture, manners and accordions, is a cultural exchange both sides enjoy tremendously. It is not only underpinned by genuine affection but is actually an expression of it – we do not gently tease those we genuinely dislike.

And if France is affronted (it isn’t), they’ve beaten England often enough to rename their fleet. There would certainly have been nothing stopping them answering HMS Agincourt by respraying one of their submarines as the We Won The Hundred Years’ War Eventually.

Zélika García is the founder of Zona Maco, Mexico City’s flagship art fair, Latin America’s largest arts event. García’s achievements have played a pivotal role in transforming Mexico City into a global art hub while also nurturing its vibrant gallery scene. Monocle caught up with García at the opening of Zona Maco’s 21st edition, which runs until Sunday.

What is the mood at this year’s fair?
The energy is incredible. More than 220 exhibitors from over 30 countries have come to take part and it’s exciting to see artists, collectors and gallerists come together and make connections.

Zona Maco has helped bring Mexican and Latin American art to international attention. Was this its founding mission?
I always wanted to create a platform for the great art in Mexico. I knew that it would grow but I didn’t imagine it would lead to what is now Mexico City Art Week, which spreads across the whole city. Many galleries here are now well-established but were young when we started out. We have so many emerging galleries and try to educate the local audience. Without public engagement, the fair wouldn’t work.

How important is it to balance international participation with a commitment to Mexican and Latin American artists?
It’s important to maintain a local focus. We exhibit big international names, which helps promote the fair globally – but a plurality of voices is essential. Different curators oversee each section and we change these every year to bring fresh perspectives. In Mexico City, there are new collections, corporate and private, and young collectors too. This accelerates growth, encouraging more artists to open studios and launch projects.
zsonamaco.com

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, click here. We will publish one answer every week.

Dear Concierge,
I am thinking of heading to the Alto Adige area of northern Italy and would like information on some historic sites that I can drag my teenagers to. Any advice?

Thanks,
Linda,
Canada

Dear Linda,

You’ve come to the right place for advice. Alto Adige – or South Tyrol as it’s known to international visitors – might only be a small area of northern Italy but it has an abundance of architectural, cultural and culinary riches (which Monocle has duly indulged in over the years). Once part of the Habsburg Empire, the region was annexed by Italy after the First World War and many of its historical sites speak to this imperial past.

There are about 800 castles dotted across the region, many of them clinging to green hillsides. The ochre Castle Trauttmansdorff presides above elegantly landscaped gardens at the eastern end of Merano and is said to have been a favourite of Empress Sissi, which makes it a genteel place to begin your explorations. Castle Tirolo, set high on a hill a little further north out of town, gave the region its name – your teenagers, we’re sure, will be charmed.

Make time for a few more contemporary cultural highlights: Museion, in the region’s capital of Bolzano, is an excellent art gallery; while Lumen – further east, closer to Brunico – hosts a collection of mountain photographs in a suitably lofty perch. As there are too many world-class hotels here, suggesting only one place to stay would be impossible. Some of Monocle’s long-standing favourites include Ottmanngut, Villa Arnica, 1477 Reichhalter and Miramonti if you want to base yourself in and around Merano.

My international interlocutor travels continue (writes Georgina Godwin). This week I’m in Galle, a walled town on the coast of Sri Lanka, attending the city’s celebrated literary festival.

I’ll be chairing panels on the repatriation of cultural artefacts, navigating literature in multiple languages and checking in with Monocle Radio. If you’re headed to Galle, I always recommend checking in at the Lake House in Koggala, a few kilometres from the town centre.

It’s a contemporary home built by the water using traditional Sri Lankan craft techniques and local materials. Owned and designed by architect Dale Jennings, the property sits in the path of a breeze that rises from the Indian Ocean and cools the house. The staff, including a talented chef who makes use of the daily catch, are as generous as they are gregarious.

Today, I’m reading Brotherless Night by V V Ganeshananthan. Set during the early years of Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war, the novel won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2024. You can hear Ganeshananthan talk about it in an archived edition of Meet the Writers.

For more on Georgina Godwin’s literary road trip, tune in to ‘Monocle on Sunday’ at 10.00 Zürich time. Have a super Saturday.