Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

Whether you’re planning a quiet Saturday night in or a big one out on the town, we’ve got you covered with film recommendations from French writer-director Audrey Diwan, the corduroy soft-power suit that will have you in full feather and the no-frills Brooklyn bar where everyone knows your name. Then: we stop in at Spanish artist Manolo Valdés’ London exhibition and The Monocle Concierge takes us on a tour of Copenhagen. First up, our editor in chief, Andrew Tuck.

Between meetings in Dubai there was an hour going free and Tyler encouraged me, along with my colleague Luke, to ditch him and make an appointment at 1847, a chain of men’s grooming parlours found all over the UAE. After a week of admiring the precision-cut beards and generally immaculate personal presentation of every Emirati gent who we had met, we signed up on the spot for a full makeover – the Presidential Treatment.

If you’re up for a good life story, this is a country where it’s always smart to start with a “where are you originally from?” My young barber told me that he was from Damascus, five years in Dubai and, while now hopeful about his homeland, was not planning on leaving Dubai any time soon, thank you. As we chatted, he cut my hair and then administered a relaxing facial (even the bit where he ran a sort of miniature vacuum cleaner over my visage to extract grime and some other hideous hideouts sheltering in my pores). Then came the task of depilating my ears and nostrils with molten wax.

Look, my bathroom routine includes regular rounds of gadget-controlled strimming but I soon became aware from my new friend’s startled expression that my bodily gardening efforts had left me not with a tidy lawn but rather a backyard strewn with unruly nasal and lughole weeds. He set to work. I watched as he spun the hot wax around the end of a short stick and again as he inserted this lollipop-like construction deep into the requisite orifice. You know when you see a National Geographic-style picture of some weird critter that lives in the darkness of the ocean floor, fumbling around down there with the aid of gruesome antennae? Well, that’s how I looked when I caught sight of myself in the mirror.

After waiting a minute while the wax cooled and set, my barber then tugged out each lollipop. I could sense that he was concerned. “There’s a lot,” he said as he waved the waxy end in front of my eyes – each one now like a miniature model hedgehog. The procedure, it was made clear, needed to be repeated (at this stage I almost expected to see him don a caver’s helmet with torch attached and clamber down a tiny rope into the abyss to hack through the follicle foliage).

So here came the wax again, fixing into position. Then that culling tug. He was probably thinking that a return to Damascus might offer a simpler existence after all. By now, Luke was primped and elegant (never travel with younger colleagues) and was keen to leave but no, apparently I would have to face round three. This time the extracted wax sticks were, thankfully, less hirsute – the last defenders of Fortress Nostril had admitted defeat. There was relief all round (even if the salon was now running short on wax). A job well done.

A day has passed since my trim-fest and, really, I am a changed person. I find myself constantly stroking my ears, now as soft and hairless as new-born puppies. I feel more aerodynamic. I am a man reborn. But how to keep the undergrowth at bay? I can only hope that I’ll be back in Dubai soon.

For Monocle’s February issue, we sit down with French filmmaker Audrey Diwan, who is working to put desire back on the big screen with her new feature, Emmanuelle. Over coffee in her 9th-arrondissement apartment, she discusses her morning routines, how to capture the zeitgeist and her journalism career. Here, she lists the three films you should watch this weekend.

1. ‘L’Histoire de Souleymane’, Boris Lojkine
   This immigration story will “change your whole perception of the world”, says Diwan. “You can’t look at people on the street in the same way after seeing it.”

2. ‘September Says’, Ariane Labed
   Labed’s directorial debut explores the bond between two teenage sisters.

3. ‘Misericordia’, Alain Guiraudie
   “It’s an unexpected piece that sets itself up as a thriller in the French countryside,” says Diwan. “It’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.”

For more from Audrey Diwan, tune in to her recent guest appearance on‘Monocle on Sunday’. Watch this space for news on our Paris bureau, café and shop.

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 Monocle Concierge,

I’ll be travelling to Copenhagen over Easter with my parents and, coincidentally, some friends will be there at the same time. My parents would love to take them out to dinner. Could you recommend any restaurants? I’d love to hear your suggestions for bakeries, coffee spots and any other must-visit places.

Julian, UK

Dear Julian,

Copenhagen’s dining scene has flourished in recent years. New restaurants and bakeries are always opening, helmed by chefs from all corners of the world. Here are a few for your itinerary.

Juno the Bakery in Østerbro is a must-visit, drawing people from all over the city for its cardamom-spiced buns. For more of a sit-down breakfast, Frama’s studio’s Apotek 57 offers a delectable selection of daily dishes and baked goods. If you’re in the mood for a Korean take on a Danish breakfast classic – a bread roll with butter and cheese – head to Et Cetera in Nørrebro. The fried korokke bun, filled with umami-rich Danish vesterhavsost cheese and served with a touch of jam, is excellent.

Villette’s leafy courtyard is the perfect place to pause for lunch. Just across the road, Beit Salma has created a Lebanese menu based on the owner’s family recipes, which is served in a well-designed setting.

Finally, Admiralgade 26 is a great choice for an intimate dinner in a homely setting furnished with Danish design classics. Tucked away on a quiet street in a building from 1796, it offers a menu packed with fresh ingredients. For a nightcap, its sister bar around the corner, Ved Stranden 10, boasts a fantastic selection of wines. Skål!

Before the show season even started in early January, I began meeting designers for collection previews (writes Natalie Theodosi). One particularly elegant creative director arrived at our 09.00 meeting in a sharp, forest-green corduroy suit – not the kind of look I’m used to seeing from men first thing in the morning. He went on to wax lyrical about the fabric, which combines comfort with polish and looks just as good when worn head-to-toe as it does when it’s paired with fabrics such as wool and tweed.

Since that early encounter, I’ve been spotting lush velvety corduroys in brand showrooms and on the runways of luxury labels. At Ten C, which is known for its utilitarian approach to design, founder Alessandro Pungetti pointed out that his “version of a suit” has always been a loosely tailored corduroy jacket and matching trousers. On the more premium end of the market, Paris-based Hermès presented corduroy jackets in indulgent, chocolate-brown hues, while Giorgio Armani sprinkled touches of corduroy to his usual line-up of neutral-hued tailoring in the form of eye-catching emerald-green tote bags. Tokyo-based Auralee also adapted the silhouette for women, offering loose corduroy trousers paired with cosy knits.

We are embracing a greater degree of formality when getting dressed. “Shirts are the new T-shirts and trainers are dying,” Sigurd Bank of Copenhagen-based label Mfpen told me. So it makes sense that designers are returning to more decadent fabrics and richer colour palettes. Get ahead by investing in trans-seasonal pieces, such as a Drake’s chore jacket or lightweight overshirt by Portuguese Flannel.

For all the charms of breezy natural-wine spots, niche microbreweries and coolly competent baristas, there is something to be said for a spirited, no-frills neighbourhood bar (writes Naomi Xu Elegant). On a recent wintry evening in Brooklyn I spotted a neon “BAR” sign through the gloom and ducked in for a brief respite. Inside, the bartender was in the throes of a lively conversation with other patrons but when he saw me, he came over, striding enthusiastically, as if he might vault the bar. Before asking for my order, he extended a handshake. He introduced himself by name, asked me for mine, welcomed me to the establishment and then poured my beer. I realised that this wouldn’t be a quiet drink.

I was soon roped into a conversation between the bartender and the other customers: two jolly men in their thirties; a wry retiree who occasionally looked up from her book to voice a droll comment; and an energetic woman with a thick Brooklyn accent. They were clearly regulars. The garrulous bartender asked after their children and dispensed advice about upcoming job interviews, peppering it all with the occasional off-colour joke. I was soon receiving unsolicited but helpful tips about the neighbourhood’s best butcher.

The interaction felt like a relic from an earlier time; a convivial scene straight out of Cheers, with genuine charm in a city full of contenders and anonymous pretenders. This was obviously something that the bartender knew: he spoke warily of ending up on a “Best bars of…” list, thus ruining what made his establishment special. To respect his wishes, I regretfully cannot share the name of the bar. But I’ll wager that in every big city there are a dozen such places. Go pull up a stool and find out.

Here are three such spots that we like to park ourselves in.

The Long Island Bar
With its red-and-green neon lights on the corner of a busy street in Brooklyn, it’s hard to miss The Long Island Bar. In the summertime, diners spill onto the pavement with cocktails in hand.
thelongislandbar.com

Corner Bistro
This corner plot in Greenwich Village is an old-school favourite, where decent conversation is plentiful – and held in high regard.
cornerbistrony.com

Gem Wine
This neighbourhood wine bar in the East Village is a laid-back spot with gregarious hosts and a cast of regulars. Pair a lobster-and-chanterelle sandwich with a hearty pour.
gem-nyc.com

Spanish artist Manolo Valdés has been treading a fine line between controversy, commerciality and classical motifs since he co-founded the pop-art group Equipo Crónica in 1965. At a time when Spain was in the grip of the Franco dictatorship, Valdés and his upstart cohorts wanted to stretch out the social stiffness that comes with authoritarianism through humour, irony and a Catherine wheel of coded messages. Those in London can check out the artist’s current UK exhibition of paintings and sculptures, The Library, at Opera Gallery until 20 March then take a stroll to St James’s Square, where “Los Cristales II”, a six-metre-tall sculpture of steel and Murano glass, has been installed to coincide with the solo show. Valdés talks to Monocle about the power of art to sway politics and test public tolerance.

Why are humour and irony such effective tools in art?
Art can be analysed, it can be thought-provoking and it can inspire happiness. But sensitive social issues can hardly be resolved with a painting. Humour and irony do not make up the whole picture. Paintings are made with colours, themes, drawings, scale and, of course, irony and humour – along with drama and the element of chance. I use whatever is available to me in the moment.

Has our tolerance for art altered over the years?
People have more access to culture, which I think has led to more tolerance. Art must also be tolerant by nature. Some artists are more capable than others of addressing different and sometimes contradictory themes: Goya is one example.

As a student, you used art to confront a seemingly intractable dictatorship. Any advice for young artists today?
We fought with the weapons that we had, which in my case was Equipo Crónica and art. Fortunately, the disappearance of Franco brought democracy to Spain and the arts were liberated. I advise artists who are starting out today to be sincere and coherent in what they do.

For more artful insights and interviews from the world of culture, subscribe today. Have a super Saturday.