Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

1
It’s been a week. Last night the deal was one TV show and to bed. And we’re talking 21.00. It was either The White Lotus or Adolescence. We decided to keep the fun storyline of incest and intrigue on hold and tough it out with the latter, a Netflix crime series about the arrest of a teenage boy for the murder of a girl at his school. It’s one of those series that still generates the modern version of the water-cooler moment, when people come together in the office to discuss the storyline, the performances. One of my colleagues, the father of two boys, says he cannot watch it. The themes – boys lost in their phones, being radicalised against women – are just too terrifying; the topic too lurking in the shadows for him as a dad. And as the credits ran, as we saw a father’s visceral pain, I just sat silently; overwhelmed. I had been encouraging my fathering colleague to watch the show but I don’t think he should. Because what can you do? How can you know what any child is looking at on their phones? There’s no path back to any age of innocence.

2
The early rendezvous with my bed was the result of several fun back-to-back late nights that were all paired with early-morning jolts awake. On Wednesday night, for example, we hosted a dinner in Paris for our Patrons. This is a small group of readers who – for a premium – get sent not only everything we produce but who are also invited to Monocle family events. We asked them to join us in Paris for dinner at our new space on Rue Bachaumont and some 40 people made their way to Paris from as far as New York, Miami, Stockholm and Manchester. It was a casual dinner – people could switch tables – with a cocktail masterclass and a few words from Tyler and the team about our ambitions, about what’s next for Monocle.

When it was time to talk about my recent visit to Mipim, the global property fair, I cheated and asked two Patrons to join me on stage (well, behind the bar) – one Patron who had travelled from Kyiv, the other from Lisbon, and both of whom know this property world well. Over the next few minutes, one unpacked why so many Americans are suddenly investing in Portugal (and the sums that they are spending), and the other highlighted Ukraine’s unlikely real-estate boom, from Carpathian ski resorts to luxury urban villas.

I could have pulled up any of our Patrons and received a similarly wise briefing – whether on textiles, PR, writing, banking or photography. I left late, very late. But at 07.50 on Thursday I was back – this time to join Georgina Godwin on ‘The Globalist’ live from Paris. My voice was suddenly much deeper. By the time I came off air, our café was filling up with Patrons and the conversation began all over again. What other media brand is as lucky to have such a connection with its readers (many now friends)?

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On the train back to London, the two people next to me started talking about their favourite TV shows and I suddenly realised that they were talking about Adolescence – and on the verge of revealing the ending. I scrambled to find my headphones. Anyway, they were far more charming than the people I got stuck between on the way to Paris. A couple – tech bro and wife combo – travelling with nanny, security guard and chef. It was the bawling child that irked initially; the father put in his Airpods and told the nanny not to comfort it. But then it was Mr Chef running up and down the carriage serving plastic bowls of some live-forever-bio-gloop to their entourage and all just as the train staff attempted their service. Privileged punks. Not Patron material.

Sartorially, Japan and France’s baseline elegance is the envy of the world (writes Jack Simpson). So when the two countries collaborate, it’s typically bound to serve up something ace – see Danton, Comme des Garçons or Maison Kitsuné. This time around, Asics and APC have created a tennis collection that nods to 1970s prep.

As anyone who has been day drinking at Wimbledon or in attendance at Roland-Garros will attest, the sport is a fashion spectacle both on and off the court.

Fittingly, the range features a sporty 20-piece collection, which leans on Asics’ industry-leading performance technology, and a 30-piece off-court selection led by APC’s creative director, Judith Touitou. Both collections will be available from 5 April. The two brands are a perfect match, we’re sure you’ll agree.
apcstore.com; asics.com

A strange thing is happening with masculinity in pop music and it has a jawline that would make the Bogdanoff brothers blush (writes Francesca Gavin). Music videos – having long bought into muscle-tensing montages – are now satirising the social media flood of gym selfies and motivational makeovers.

One spoof sending up exploding muscles and plastic filler was recently released by Buenos Aires-based duo, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, in a 17-minute-long musical film. The camp, hysteric “Papota”, an Argentine term for anabolic steroids, needles celebrity culture at its most plastic and might be the sharpest satire you’ll see this year. The film is a twist on the classic A Star is Born story: a Faustian music label boss, Gymbaland, recruits two eager pop stars and, with the aid of “ChadGPT”, helps them win a “Latin Chaddy” award with the song “Hashtag Tits”. We watch the band glow up, fall out and then return to loving friendship.

During their rise to success, the duo transform from quirky individuals with mullets, bleached hair and piercings to flexing, spray-tan big-jaws. Their take on successful mainstream masculinity is uncanny, gross and immensely contemporary: think Pedro Almodóvar meets K-pop, fused with an Instafilter. Massively popular in Argentina, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso’s take on manhood is also evident in their catchy and self-reflective lyrics. These talented outsiders are unafraid to question the six-pack and steroids cliché. We’re here for it.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when telephones were tactile, with chunky buttons and a presence that made them as much a piece of décor as an eye-catching ashtray (writes Christopher Lord). Rendered in primary colours and plastic-y primitivism, the Enorme telephone was a bold 1986 take on the blower, a collaboration between designer David Kelley (part of the team that designed Apple’s first computer mouse), the Memphis Group’s founder Ettore Sottsass and photographer Jean Pigozzi. Only 1,000 of them were ever made but, this weekend, a limited number are going on sale in Los Angeles after an untouched cache of Enorme sets was discovered hidden away in Stanford, California.

The sale is being hosted by Designspace, a platform for products and work by more than 50 smart studios, debuting at the Pacific Design Centre in West Hollywood. It’s a rare opportunity to get your hands on a bit of postmodernist history. Fair warning, using one of these design classics is a bit trickier and will require a working landline, which are as hard to come by these days as the Enorme itself.
designspace.la

If you’re wandering through the grand galleries of Montréal’s Museum of Fine Arts, you might notice hoards of younger gallery-goers who appear to be particularly captivated (writes Tomos Lewis). These clusters of fledgling art connoisseurs are students, not from one of the city’s fine art schools, however, but from the faculty of medicine at the Université de Montréal. And they’re here for one particular purpose: to learn the art of observation.

This past autumn, the university launched a curriculum that prescribed art-gallery visits for its trainee doctors in order to help hone their senses and see with more analytical eyes. Some 400 medical students, who are also encouraged to discuss and debate their perspectives with their peers, have undergone this visual education so far. It is a skill – trained on the study of brushstrokes or the contours of sculpture – that the university says will serve the students well in their future careers as doctors, particularly during conversations and check-ups with patients. After all, there is rarely a single, defining interpretation of what an artwork means or is trying to convey – and the same can be said for a patient’s symptoms. For those of us who haven’t been prescribed a visit to an art gallery: when hasn’t a meander through a museum felt like just what the doctor ordered?

If you’re in Stockholm this weekend, be sure to pop into the newly reopened Kasthall concept store in Östermalm (writes Liv Lewitschnik). With its 135-year history of making hand-tufted rugs at its original factory in southwest Sweden, Kasthall commands considerable clout among both local and international customers.

On Thursday’s opening night, hundreds of people showed up to see the new space, which was designed by Finnish agency Fyra and kitted out with exquisite Vaarnii furniture. Many will surely be back again this weekend to peruse Kasthall’s collaboration with Nordic textile company Astrid, as well as accessories by Johanna Gullichsen, ceramics by 1616 Arita and soft Elvang throws designed by Cecile Manz.

“By bringing together the timeless collections of Kasthall and Astrid with a range of other top design brands, we are creating a new destination where visitors can experience the artistry behind our rugs and collaborate on new ideas,” says Mirkku Kullberg, CEO of Kasthall. Next up, the rug manufacturer is looking to refit its shop in Malmö and its showrooms in New York and Milan.
kasthall.com

To read our full interview with Mirkku Kullberg, pick up a copy of Monocle’s March issue.

From his Milan office, filled with books and watercolour paintings, Giulio Bergamaschi, the CEO of lifestyle and fashion company Acqua di Parma, tells Monocle how he plans to achieve his ambitious goals while staying true to the house’s playful Italian spirit.

Acqua di Parma is a big brand but it sounds as though you want to return it to its roots.
Craftsmanship and the art of living have been at the heart of Acqua di Parma for a very long time. Since I arrived, we have sought to expand this dimension and find a space for it in our boutiques. It would be very difficult to give these pieces the right environment in a wholesale shop or a department store.

Are your products for sale solely in your standalone shops?
They will be at a few other top shops, such as Harrods and Le Bon Marché. The role of our boutiques is to offer the pinnacle of the Acqua di Parma experience: the deepest immersion in our universe, the best advice, the widest offer, plus these masterpieces that are only available in very limited quantities.

What is your retail strategy for Acqua di Parma?
Before we look at geographical expansion, we are thinking about our current distribution and improving the shopping experience. We need to be more Italian but also embrace some local cultural codes. We should be consistent and stand for Italian heritage and values but that doesn’t mean that we have to standardise our image everywhere we go.

Do you have an ultimate goal for the business?
To help it become the most desirable art-of-living brand – with an Italian soul, of course.

To read the full interview, pick up a copy of Monocle’s April issue. Have a super Saturday.