Hail Haakon!

You have to love Tyler Brule Brule. He always looks as if he just stepped out of a cover shoot for Fantastic Man, yet years before he founded Wallpaper*, the globetrotting homo journo took a bullet in Afghanistan. Maybe it was that experience that made Brule resolve to only travel business class, sans flak jacket.

Haakon of Norway

We've been closely watching Monocle, Brule's latest magazine confection, which one must assume is targeted at spoilt aesthetes with a strong grasp of global affairs, oodles of liquid assets, and plenty of time on their hands. Hey, that's us, minus the cash!

Who else but Brule would go to HRH Crown Prince Haakon (above) to find out how Norway is weathering the pressures of globalization? Click here to watch Monocle's delightful visit with Haakon in the royal palace in Oslo. With his soft voice, wan complexion, and fuzzy muttonchops, Haakon looks like nothing so much as a 19th-century romantic poet. It's time Thom Browne or someone like that made Haakon his muse.