Are you one of Monocle’s brightest sparks?
Bonjour from sunny Paris, where fashion week is in full swing, a postponed Pride parade is snaking through the streets, students are burning bins and smashing windows, the riot trucks and muscular cops are out in full force and there’s a hit of tear gas in the air. Yes, dear reader, Parisians are in their normal groove, doing what they do best: going to elegant events while looking chic, getting wound up over a multitude of topics while looking effortlessly cool and simply striding from A to B while looking super hot. How different Paris is to the 36 hours that I spent in Abu Dhabi earlier in the week, where it was just super hot – in part because the mercury said so, in part because Ryan Reynolds was on stage at the Livex urbanism conference. More on my chat with fellow Canadian Mr Reynolds later in the week.
As the northern hemisphere has officially shifted into cosy season, it’s time for a little autumn quiz. If you’ve participated before, you know the drill. If not, you need to answer the ten questions below and ensure that your answers land in my inbox no later than midday (Zürich time) on Monday. The three brightest sparks will get a copy of Sophie Grove’s hot-off-the-press Konfekt: A Guide to Generous Hosting and a few other little surprises. When submitting your answers, please tell us where you’re based and whether we can use your first name and the initial of your surname when identifying you as one of Monocle’s smartest readers. Ready? Pencil sharpened? Here we go!
1.
You’re in a restaurant with colleagues in the US and you’re really thirsty and hungry. There are a lot of people weaving around the restaurant who very much look like they work there and you’re doing amateur acrobatics to get someone’s attention. Finally someone in an apron approaches your group and offers up something between a wince and a smile. What’s the most annoying thing that they can say to you?
2.
You’re still in the US and you arrive at the reception of a big tech company with a woman who pretends that she’s all smiles and cookies but is, in fact, a distant Californian cousin of one of those bad-ass French riot officers. What is the most grating thing about being “welcomed” at a US corporate HQ these days?
3.
You’ll notice that barrel-leg trousers continue to be all the rage on the rails of certain retailers. While this voluminous look is fine if you have long pins, it also makes those who are shorter than 165cm (5ft 5in) look like circus acts. How many more weeks, months or years will this silhouette endure?
4.
As it’s Paris Fashion Week, can you name the next big maison that’s going to define a whole new space at the top end of the luxury market?
5.
Can you name the most bothersome and overused term in the English language, which should have disappeared from everyday conversation long ago but is still kicking around? Here’s a hint: it comes at an angle.
6.
Were the men who wrestled and restrained the rogue, likely radicalised co-pilot on that Flydubai flight this week really random civilian heroes – or were they rather more professional? Or extras from Fauda?
7.
Why has China, despite all its purchasing muscle and production prowess, not yet managed to create a global luxury brand? Or has it?
8.
Where will Monocle’s next café be opening? And when?
9.
Name the European automotive group that is ramping up production to meet demand for its surprise four-wheel success story. Hint: the vehicle lives across two of the group’s brands.
10.
What is going to be the hottest hotel opening of Q4? Bonus question if you also name the designer and can pronounce their last name properly.
