Window shopping with world leaders and why diamonds are an editor’s best friend
1.
Last Saturday I headed to London’s Jermyn Street to continue my hunt for a pair of good loafers. Online searches had suggested that Crockett & Jones might offer up the solution to my quest. The elegant street was sunny and calm, although I noticed that Crockett & Jones had two burly security guards at the door. I know that shoplifting is now something of a fun weekend pastime for oik-y vagabonds but have the baby-faced hoodlums that plague our city suddenly developed a penchant for velvet slippers and chukka boots? Were the thieves now making grab-and-go raids in order to dress like country squires? I headed into the shop, the muscle wall courteously parting for me. I was just about to ask for my chosen loafers in a size nine please, when I recognised the voice of the only other customer in the store – a well-known prime minister who, only that morning, I had read was in town for a meeting with the Brits. We have met before, so I found myself exchanging pleasantries but it didn’t half put me off my stroke. It felt discourteous taking off my shoes and going stocking-footed while in the presence of a global leader. So, in short, I don’t have any new loafers.
2.
This week I got an award. I know, how fancy am I? It was from the Spanish Luxury Association and I went to Madrid to attend a special lunch for the 25 winners and later a ceremony at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, where I was presented with my trophy (a giant diamond-shaped piece of glass that I am thinking of having fashioned into a necklace). The prize was in recognition of my “excellence” as editor in chief of Monocle. Quiet now, no heckling from the back. Even if it wasn’t merited, I was taking that gong – hell, I even got to make an acceptance speech. The only wrinkle? It was black tie. Now, some men have all the gear (my other half for example) and some don’t. There are no decorous cummerbunds or patent pumps in my wardrobe. I have the apposite suit, but it’s chunky and woollen and was not the right vibe for a trip to still-hot Madrid. Anyway, thanks to some speedy shopping, borrowing cufflinks and a suit, I somehow managed to arrive at the gala sort of correctly dressed. But I still had to spend much of the evening avoiding eye contact with other guests in case they asked me to top up their glasses.
3.
On Thursday night there was a party to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Trunk, the menswear store run by the ever-dapper Mats Klingberg. It was held at The Hart, the new smart pub and restaurant that’s but a few steps from the front door of Trunk’s London shop. In part, Mats has found success because he’s a good editor, buying with a clear sense of what his audience needs, putting together stories and ideas with how he displays the Trunk stores – the shop windows are as alluring and considered as any good front page. Now there’s a man who will never be mistaken for being part of the catering crew.
4.
One of the people at the Trunk party was Nick Shelton, the Australian publisher of Broadsheet Media. I’d seen him the night before too, at the launch party for the arrival of his operation in London (I do go home some nights). Broadsheet is a city guide, online, sometimes in print. It makes books, has newsletters. It’s been a hit in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane – now it’s seeing if it can become the go-to in this city. There’s a gap for a good London guide as Time Out has created one of the messiest websites known to man and The London Standard (formerly the Evening Standard) is a pale shadow of its past self. Let’s see what happens.
5.
And here’s some other good publishing news. The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas is now available to pre-order and will be dispatched mid-October. It’s a book about 50 designers, their sofas and their lives. It’s a finely upholstered gem of a book all about interiors, design and plump cushions. Also look out for the first-ever Monocle Design Directory, an epic annual that’s about to hit newsstands. Now that’s genuine excellence (and I didn’t edit either of them). But I’m keeping the diamond.
To read all of Andrew’s past columns, click here.
