Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

Robert Bound asked me whether I would come on his radio programme, Monocle on Culture, to talk about a new exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG) that looks at The Face magazine in its glory years from 1980 to 2004. Older than most of my colleagues, I realise that I am now often booked for these chats not for my perceived expertise but because I am one of the few people in the office who was alive back then. A feature on the golden age of steam? A show looking at the Boer Wars? A story about the invention of the telephone? Get that Tuck on the programme! Anyway, for Mr Bound I was happy to oblige but, when he mentioned that there was a proper expert joining – namely Johnny Davis, the editor of The Face from 1999 to 2002 – I realised that I needed to do some revising.

As you’ll guess from the name of its venue, the show focuses on the photography that ran in the magazine: portraits of the famous, fashion shoots. And it’s staggering. There was so much extraordinary talent both in front of and behind the lens. Think Bono in a feathery dress, shot by Anton Corbijn; a baby-faced Ryan Gosling smoking a cigarette by Frederike Helwig; Naomi Campbell in just white briefs and sneakers by Ellen von Unwerth. The magazine charted the shifts in clubbing, music and fashion and, while it featured its fair share of Hollywood stars, back then it felt like a very British magazine (in a good way). But you can listen to Robert’s show for the proper review because there was something else at play that I wanted to mention.

Lots of gallery shows simply underline what we already know – you won’t visit an exhibition about the impressionists and leave thinking, “Wow, those were some pretty hot painters!” But other shows make you reassess the past and see it more clearly. I was 18 years old when the first issue of The Face came out and, in my twenties especially, it was a magazine that you just needed to buy (indeed, after scrambling around in our storage, I found some of the issues that I bought back then, which, perhaps because they are so evocative of a moment, I have never been able to throw away). Until this show, though, I didn’t realise just how many gifted people it had corralled – even after subsequently meeting and working with so many of the magazine’s creators.

At Christmas in Palma I met up with someone who I hadn’t seen in many years: the author and critic Kathryn Flett, who was on the island with her partner, photographer Julian Anderson. I met Kathryn when I was in my first journalism job at Time Out Guides and she was at i-D magazine – we all shared office space in an old school in Covent Garden. Kathryn moved on to The Face as a fashion and features editor, later becoming the editor of Arena magazine. In Palma we talked about those times, about the show that would be coming to the NPG, and our conversation, like the exhibition, left me wondering about how we don’t notice how glorious a moment is until it’s over. I left the exhibition amazed but also a little melancholic. About my lost youth? Perhaps. But it was more just the fact that, too often, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

Perhaps there’s a solution, a way of pulling together our past and our present, making sure that we don’t lose track, forget. We all need a personal curator to sift through our lives, jettison the rubbish bits, blow up to epic scale the times that made us happy and define who we are. We all need a retrospective.

‘The Face Magazine: Culture Shift’, runs at London’s National Portrait Gallery until 18 May. Monocle on Culture airs Monday.

1. Redduo open Casa Redduo in Milan
Interior design studio Redduo is pitching up in the vibrant Milanese neighbourhood of Porta Venezia, establishing a new creative hub called Casa Redduo. Inside, the brand will present never-before-seen products, including a collection of rugs created in collaboration with Belgian company Jov. Their new kettle and a sharp set of geometrically shaped coffee tables, with a pleasing lacquered finish, caught our eye.

2. Jacques Marie Mage in London
Monocle has a new neighbour in Marylebone: the Los Angeles-based spectacle and sunglasses specialist Jacques Marie Mage. The brand, which channels the freewheeling spirit of Dennis Hopper in its frames, opened its first London shop on Chiltern Street this week. Pop on a pair and then stop in next door for a coffee at Monocle’s café.

3. Ami Paris’s new flagship in the French capital
Ami Paris has taken a vast corner plot on Rue de Turenne for its new flagship. It’s a bold statement in the brand’s home city but with breezy interiors by architectural practice Studio KO, it’s a joy to browse.

There’s still time to catch up on the nominated films ahead of tomorrow’s 97th Academy Awards – especially if you pick nominees in the short-film categories (writes Sophie Monaghan-Coombs). Here are three of the best:

‘Wander to Wonder’
Dutch director Nina Gantz’s stop-motion film follows three tiny performers from a children’s television show who are left to fend for themselves after the death of their creator. It’s a strange yet moving film that becomes all the more fascinating when you consider the painstaking eight years of work that went into making it.
Nominated for best animated short and available to watch on Vimeo.

‘Instruments of a Beating Heart’
This documentary tells the story of a little girl, Ayame, who is tasked with learning and performing “Ode to Joy” alongside her classmates in front of their school’s incoming students. The film offers an insight into the Japanese school system and the balance that teachers must find between authority and encouragement.
Nominated for best documentary short and available to watch on Youtube.

‘The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent’
A cramped carriage is the setting for this short drama, which tells the true story of a passenger train being stopped by paramilitary forces in 1993 during the Bosnian war. The film’s difficult subject is deftly handled by writer-director Nebojša Slijepčević and a small yet brilliant cast.
Nominated for best live-action short and available to watch on Arte.tv.

Today is the first full day of Ramadan and the final Saturday before Lent, an overlap that occurs roughly every 33 years (writes Alexis Self). While observance of the former in the Muslim world is generally more steadfast than the latter among Christians, Catholic countries still seem able to rouse themselves every February for carnival: a last splurge before what was once 40 days of piety and fasting. In Poland, the final Thursday before Lent is known as tłusty czwartek (“Fat Thursday”). At the country’s embassy in London this week, ambassador Piotr Wilczek hosted a reception featuring a long table covered with traditional snacks, most prominent among which were pączki (plum or rose-petal jam doughnuts) and faworki (deep-fried ribbons of dough, liberally covered in powdered sugar).

For most of us in the 21st century, the word “fat” has overwhelmingly negative connotations: ill health, excess and, ironically perhaps, deprivation. In the UK, according to a survey carried out by the government, 71.5 per cent of adults in the most deprived areas of the country are overweight and 35.9 per cent are obese. This epidemic that’s prevalent across the Western world is due to environmental factors, such as industrialised farming and ultra-processed foods, and societal ones: loneliness and poor education mean that people are less likely to sit down with others for meals or, indeed, to know how to cook them.

Rather than foreshadowing these modern ills, Fat Thursday and Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”) are, in fact, counterpoints to them. They are not days of wanton excess and decadence but celebrations of faith, family and, yes, food. Fat Thursday wouldn’t have been remarkable or worth celebrating if every Thursday was filled with fatty foods. Irregular excess was and should be a source of joy. On that note, I hope that you don’t mind if I help myself to another pączki – and maybe a faworki or two.

New York-based menswear label Noah has brightened up Barbour’s workwear offerings in its second collaboration with the heritage UK brand (writes Rory Jones). The mini-capsule collection, released earlier this week, contains reimagined favourites from Barbour’s archive and includes two jackets and a range of sweaters and T-shirts that will see you through warmer days.

Made from lightweight materials and dyed in summery hues, Noah’s collection coaxes the waxed jackets of Barbour’s collection into the sunshine. The Bedale jacket, first released in 1980, has been reimagined in a pinkish madras plaid (the result is sharper than it sounds), while the time-honoured Wading Casual jacket, originally intended to be worn thigh-deep in a river, has had a minty makeover and been given a trim better suited to a city-dweller’s silhouette.

Barbour’s deep connection to the great British countryside and Noah’s casual New Yorker sensibilities might sound worlds apart but somehow they fall perfectly in step.
noahny.com; barbour.com

For arguably the first time in the history of used-car retail, it might be possible to utter the phrase “one careful owner” with a straight face (writes Andrew Mueller). This 2010 Land Rover Defender 90 in Keswick green was once owned by the then-Prince of Wales, now King Charles III – in the news this week for inviting the US president, Donald Trump, to make a second state visit to the UK, though the degree to which his signature on the letter was distorted by the prime minister twisting his other arm is unclear.

As might be expected, this Land Rover’s heritage attracts a premium. Iconic Auctioneers, the company that’s selling it on 22 March, anticipates between £42,000 (€52,800) and £50,000 (€60,500), whereas a brisk scroll through the listings on the Auto Trader website yields similar-looking vehicles for maybe half that. However, even aside from its pedigree, this one is in indisputably good condition, having racked up just 24,595 miles of trundling around some royal estate or other, and boasts a few subtly luxurious touches. (Most Land Rovers do not have heated seats.) It also comes with a history file including the confirmation letter addressed to Charles’s head chauffeur (though it is believed that the car was primarily driven by the king himself).

It is presently adorned with a personalised licence plate insufferable even by the standards of personalised licence plates: 72 HRH. This is not included but might be available by separate negotiation – though even if it doesn’t cost more than the car, it could attract more trouble than it is worth from paparazzi or passers-by infuriated by such ostentation.
iconicauctioneers.com

Nick Wakeman is the founder of Studio Nicholson, a London-based fashion label known for its timeless wardrobe staples (writes Maria Papakleanthous). As Wakeman celebrates the brand’s 15th anniversary, she tells Monocle about her creative process, how she selects materials and the enduring inspiration of Japan.

What are your signature fabrics?
I have developed a double-cotton powder twill with an Italian mill that we primarily use for men’s and women’s trousers. It’s a fantastic fabric that holds its shape and has a certain snap to it when you move. There are many elements that I consider when selecting a fabric, such as whether it’s spongy, shiny or soft. How clothes feel on the body is what matters most. When you feel great, you look the part because that’s when you are at your most confident and authentic.

What is your creative process?
I’m always mood-boarding, collecting images and reading. I go to Greece every August with industry friends and we talk about what inspires us. By the time I return in September, those ideas are already taking shape. Each collection has a narrative, often linked to a film or a few cultural references. Then comes the process of meetings, fittings and, at times, tearing our hair out. Everybody assumes that making something simple is easy but in reality the hardest thing is perfecting simplicity.

Japan is one of Studio Nicholson’s strongest markets. How did your relationship with the country begin?
My connection with Japan goes back a long way. I first visited in 1999 and it blew my mind. I came from grimy, 1990s London into a perfectly ordered city where beige, brown, white, optic-white and parchment tones filled every space. I had never seen anything like it. The place resonated with me because I’m a control freak. I like everything in its place. And that’s exactly what Tokyo is. People assume that it’s a noisy city but it’s actually quiet, which made me feel safe. Japan remains hugely important to the brand. I discover something there whenever I visit and yet Tokyo itself stays the same, which is oddly comforting. We have a shop in Aoyama and will soon be opening a Kyoto location and a shop-in-shop at Shibuya Parco.
studionicholson.com

For the full interview, tune in to‘Monocle on Fashion’. Or better still,subscribeso that you never miss a beat. Have a super Saturday.