Do you want to be a better writer? Well, I do, and that’s why I have a suggestion for you: go to Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World at London’s National Portrait Gallery. Curated by Robin Muir, it’s an extraordinary visual celebration of the British photographer’s career, from society portraits to fashion shoots for Vogue; from men of war to Hollywood. It’s definitive and beautiful, and so many images feel new and innovative, even after the passing of numerous decades. The show is also a masterclass in how to write. Next to each image is a little card that helps illuminate what you are looking at and the wit, craft and skill that have gone into writing these is a joy to read.

This week we have been meeting with all of Monocle’s editors to review the year but also to lay down some plans for 2026. We’ve looked at how we told stories, what worked a treat, what fell by the wayside. We’ve talked about writers we would like to work with and the varying needs of print versus digital. We’ve debated why length adds delight sometimes and leaves you cold at others (it’s all about how you use those big words). We’ve talked about inspiration, too. And that’s why I’ve told everyone: go to the Beaton show and read those little cards, which are as honed as any haiku.

OK, I’ll show you what I mean. The note for a picture of the Viennese dancer Tilly Losch says that “Her freedom on stage was matched by her personal style – Beaton compared her to ‘a rifled drawer’ – but she could be modern too, here in a Yvonne Carette suit and a felt turban designed by Charles James, a friend of Beaton’s from Harrow school”. A rifled drawer! You want to know Miss Losch – in just a few words you slide back through time, see the connections; a snapshot becomes a bigger picture.

Or how about this one for an image of The Honourable Mrs Reginald Fellowes, who “was considered the best-dressed woman in the world. The title might have implied frequent changes of wardrobe but, in fact, the distinction was hers on account of a rigorous simplicity of style.” We learn that Lady Ottoline Morrell presided over “a salon of the brilliant and eccentric minds of her age” and was described as having “magenta hair and two protruding teeth”. What a time and all unlocked for visitors in a series of descriptions just 75 words long. It’s writing that’s lean, evocative and fitting. I have waded through numerous magazine profiles and interviews with today’s rich and famous that leave you none the wiser and certainly don’t make you smile. Verbosity can be such a mood killer, as off-putting as a hot date who wants to keep their socks on in bed.

I am certainly not going to lecture anyone on this topic (good writing, I mean, not the socks in bed bit – my views on that are clear) but for me the best journalism is concise, avoids jargon and industry speak, doesn’t reach for arcane words to try to prove the writer’s superior intelligence (or reliance on a thesaurus), dodges clichés, knows how to use words to change pace and mood, delivers some delight and understands what to leave out of the narrative in the pursuit of clarity. I certainly keep striving for all these things (and benefit from the corrective tonic of a crack team of sub editors). But head to the Beaton show if you would like a lesson in delivering brevity, charm and knowledge inside a few short sentences.

To read more of Andrew’s columns, click here.

Would you like a weekend away with Monocle’s editor in chief, Andrew Tuck, and head of radio, Tom Edwards? Well, here’s your chance. They, along with a whole team from Monocle, will be hosting readers from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 November for our latest Weekender event – this time in Abu Dhabi. It’s going to be an extraordinary trip with incredible access, world-class cultural moments and impeccable hospitality. Here are five things that you can look forward to.

1.
A visit to the spectacular new Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi on the first day that it opens to the public.

2.
A VIP tour of the Abu Dhabi Art Fair, the most important art event in the region.

3.
A series of lunches and dinners at the city’s leading restaurants, with a chance to discover the best of Emirati food (there will be a cocktail nightcap in the mix too).

4.
We’ll be staying at the Park Hyatt, where we’ll be also recording interviews for Monocle Radio (and giving you access to these key voices). There will be time for a dip in the pool and a visit to the spa.

5.
And you will meet local artisans and makers (perhaps bring a big suitcase).

It’s going to be an amazing trip with a tight team of Monocle readers and a lot of fun moments. For more information and to book tickets head here or email our head of events, Hannah Grundy, at hg@monocle.com.

It might have a French name but one of this year’s most notable additions to the Paris retail scene hails from Denmark (writes Simon Bouvier). Copenhagen-based menswear label Les Deux’s new shop in Le Marais opened this week, the latest address in the brand’s global network of branches is seen by its founders, Andreas von der Heide and Kristoffer Haapanen, as one of their most thrilling challenges yet. “There is so much competition in retail here, we’re really excited to test ourselves in this market,” Von der Heide tells The Monocle Weekend Edition at the shop’s launch party.

The label was born in 2011, when Von der Heide, Haapanen and a friend went door to door to every Copenhagen retailer with their first T-shirt design. Fourteen years later, the brand has 100 employees and offices on both sides of the Atlantic, with plans to further expand its reach – new spaces in London and Amsterdam are on their way. 
32 Rue de Poitou, 75003, Paris

The diplomats, climate scientists and environmental activists descending on Belém for the Cop30 summit, which kicks off on Monday, should familiarise themselves with the cultural quirks of Brazil’s Pará state (writes Gregory Scruggs). Açaí is not known as the tart superfood in the berry’s birthplace but rather a savoury condiment slathered on fish. A waltz through the Ver-o-Peso Market will confirm that such delectable specimens as the tucunaré and pirarucu are monstrous – among the largest freshwater fish in the world and a compelling reason to stay inside the protective netting should you venture out to swim at a riverfront beach. And yes, police officers on the nearby island of Marajó really do patrol some areas mounted on water buffaloes.

But the most relevant tip is the Paraense way of marking time. Scheduling appointments, as I learnt on a reporting trip many years ago, often comes down to a single question: “Antes ou depois da chuva?”–“Before or after the rain?” The daily deluge that arrives like clockwork governs the state’s quotidian rhythm. Indeed, long-term trends suggesting interruptions to the Amazonian water cycle threaten not only the fecund basin’s ecosystem but also its sense of identity. This light-hearted custom veils a more serious issue for which, come rain or shine, delegates must insist that there is no time to waste.

In 2016 more than 100,000 people queued for one toilet at the Guggenheim in New York (writes Sophie Monaghan-Coombs). Made from 18-karat gold and fully plumbed-in, the bathroom appliance by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan proffered playful, subversive questions about the value of art. It first made a splash in New York and again when exhibited at – and subsequently stolen from – Blenheim Palace in the UK in 2019. That toilet was never recovered and was presumed to have been melted down but a new version of the work goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s this month. Titled America, the artwork has been installed at the Breuer Building, Sotheby’s new HQ in New York. But to keep its seat pristine ahead of auction day, prospective bidders aren’t able to try before they buy.

“When Cattelan first installed this at the Guggenheim, it was in a museum space and the whole idea was playing with what constitutes art and sanctified versus de-sanctified spaces,” Lucius Elliott, the head of contemporary art marquee auctions at Sotheby’s New York, tells The Monocle Weekend Edition. “The most precious thing was in the least sanctified space in the museum and that will be true here as well.”

Unusually – and accounting for its material value – the starting bid for the artwork will be determined by the price of its weight in gold on the day of the sale. Given that the toilet constitutes more than 100kg of the precious metal, this is likely to be in the region of $10m (€8.71m). Whether the toilet’s future involves being admired from a distance as a work of art or squatted on as a piece of plumbing, the winning bidder is sure to leave feeling flush.

Can the price of gold continue its record run? UBS experts add their weight here.