Miguel Adrover Goes On

[Lena]

i have a soft point for Miguel Adrover
so happy to see him back on track

Adrover Back on Fifth With Event at Bendel

By Eric Wilson

NEW YORK — Miguel Adrover is back on Fifth Avenue.

Although the controversial designer might have slipped from the center of fashion’s radar since his 1999 debut, Adrover is taking steps to rebuild his reputation with retailers, beginning with his first big trunk show in New York in more than three years, tonight at Henri Bendel. The retailer, which began to stock pieces from Adrover’s spring collection two weeks ago, has turned over its Fifth Avenue windows to a display that re-creates the designer’s last runway show, a double-season combo shown in September.

“I’ve got a lot of fondness for Henri Bendel,” Adrover said, taking a break from producing orders for the store in his Chrystie Street studio here.

Since he lost his backing in 2001 under the failed Pegasus Apparel Group, he has managed to survive largely on personal orders from private clients, but Bendel’s gave him an order for about 100 pieces, paying for the fabric costs up front.

“This company is moving in the right direction,” Adrover said. “We’re still hanging in on our own and I don’t mind. It’s a pleasure doing business on your own terms. We’ve had the experience of a big corporation and we’ve had the experience of working in a basement. Now we’re in the middle, which is much better.”

Since he reopened his collection two years ago, Adrover has continued to produce provocative collections that challenge the rules of the fashion establishment, although they have garnered less attention than when his work was a novelty. To a degree, he has isolated himself from the New York fashion scene by spending monthlong stretches in Spain, where he is considered a national celebrity, and in Egypt, a major source of his design inspiration from where he returned only a few weeks ago.

In his most recent journey, Adrover helped inaugurate El Museu d’Art Modern Es Baluard de Palma, a contemporary art space built inside the walls of a Renaissance fortress on the island of Majorca, where the designer was born. He created 35 uniforms for the museum’s staff, who will dress in Adrover’s tailored, three-piece suits for men and skirt suits for women, and is also in discussions with the island’s government about opening a store there or staging an exhibition of his work.

From Majorca, Adrover flew to Egypt in late February, where he participated in a cultural exchange program with the University of Cairo that was sponsored by the Instituto Cervantes, in which students were asked to develop a complete collection in about eight days, finally staging a runway show at the Spanish Embassy. Outside a cemetery there, Adrover said he saw a group of little girls whom he asked to walk on his runway, along with a live donkey.

“It was like that show with the sheep,” Adrover said, recalling his infamous February 2001 show, where a sheep was terrified by the spectacle and ominously fell onto several audience members. The donkey, he said, was a better model.

His fascination with livestock aside, the designer is making an effort to present a more professional front on the business side. He just completed delivery of spring orders with Colette in Paris and two retailers in Japan, plus shoes to Jeffrey New York through his year-old licensee, Lottusse. Bendel’s placed an order for about 100 pieces from Adrover’s collection and about 15 of them had sold within the first two weeks, said Ed Burstell, vice president and general manager.

“When you really look at the collection, there are some incredible, beautiful, salable things you can tailor for your own store,” Burstell said. “I look at him almost as Miguel the Concept. The idea of designing from a lot of different inspirations is really timely. He has original thought that needs to be seen.”

photo from his ss02 collection

article & photo from wwd

 

[metal-on-metal]

He's ok. But sometimes I don't understand the hype.

 

[mikeijames]

Originally posted by chickonspeed@Apr 22nd, 2004 - 7:15 am
He's ok. But sometimes I don't understand the hype.

i think he's one of the first people i really thought that vogue REALLY over-editorialized. his designs were never that extraordinary to garner so much attention (for a while it was every month something major).

 

[Scott]

I have liked some of Miguel's work from time to time. No,nothing extraordinary but he had a quirkiness that I liked.

What I don't understand is,why there's so much focus on he and his troubles when there are other NY designers that began in that same period,garnered some attention themselves therefore who are suffering now. Not a word has been uttered about the label of Bruce.

 

[Lena]

there is a certain poetry in his work,
i'm so glad he will be at Barney's & Colette
without even having a backer.

he's a Spanish designer, he needs to do things his way
personally i find him very talented and quite underestimated

 

[Spacemiu]

Originally posted by chickonspeed@Apr 22nd, 2004 - 5:15 am
He's ok. But sometimes I don't understand the hype.

i agree, I like some of his stuff, btu I don't think he is amazing.

also liek Scott* said, i don't understand thw focus on him and his troubles, may be just ebcuas he has alot of friends in high places.

 

[ignitioned32]

I too don't understand the hype.
I liked his quirkiness but I never saw any real design in his work. He's much more a stylist in my book.
For example take his much lauded Spring 2001 collection, where he blended in Polo by Ralph Lauren, Hip-Hop and the Army/Military. Where's the design there?

 

[Lena]

thats an old adrover collection that could be very 'now' no?
i dont mind the mix of syles, its like free style music,
why should he had a solid theme base?
i think this kind of mellange is more fun

see.. i even find him influencial,
so just pay no attention to my rambling ...

OT: i saw sophia kokosalaki in my dream

 

[ignitioned32]

Originally posted by Lena@Apr 23rd, 2004 - 1:51 am
thats an old adrover collection that could be very 'now' no?
i dont mind the mix of syles, its like free style music,
why should he had a solid theme base?
i think this kind of mellange is more fun

OT: i saw sophia kokosalaki in my dream

I know and agree but that collection isn't "fashion messiah" material right?

OT: You did? I saw Sophia Coppola in my dream two weeks ago.

 

[Lena]

fashion messiah he is not, but he sure does things his own way, which i find fresh

OT: i surely did (woke up an hour ago)
we were sharing a cool hotel room ( while on vacations) and we were trying hard to pack our luggage on time to catch a plane back ..ending throwing things away, there was no space to staff all our new clothes & accessories in

 

[Scott]

I do love that military/boy scout theme he had that one collection. Like that suit Kim Peers is modelling.

I don't really mind that he's not trying to be overly innovative. One can only do so much anyway. He seems to be expressing himself inspired by what's already out there. And I think that precisely his aesthetic. As far as the clothes themselves,he looks like he cuts a mean trouser!

 

[softgrey]

Originally posted by Lena@Apr 22nd, 2004 - 4:21 pm
there is a certain poetry in his work,
i'm so glad he will be at Barney's & Colette
without even having a backer.

he's a Spanish designer, he needs to do things his way
personally i find him very talented and quite underestimated

lena...if i'm not mistaken...the article says he's going to sell at Bendel's not Barney's...(did i miss something?)...two very different stores...

i'm sure he's a very nice guy and i am glad that he's doing ok...but i don't think he has any special talent...imo...

 

[Lena]

Tara Reid, Miguel Adrover and Lindsay Lohan.

SPANISH STYLE: Despite his past of fits and starts, Miguel Adrover is experiencing a renaissance. Several hundred fashion followers — ranging from young upstarts like Tara Reid and Lindsay Lohan to the requisite downtown Adrover groupies — turned up at a reception at Henri Bendel Thursday night for the designer. As revelers happily sipped champagne, shoppers placed orders for fall. But nobody was having quite as much fun as Adrover himself, who kept taking friends outside to look at the window with his designs. After the event ended, Adrover took the party elsewhere, tucking two bottles of champagne under his arms and heading off into the night

from wwd

 

[ultramarine]

I'm happy he surfaced ... what happened with his collection right one time with 9/11 and the theme of it it's a clinical case of the worst timing ever!
I'm very happy that his bussiness is picking up.
I'll have to admit I was a bit surprised in the beginning about how much attention was drawn to him .. but from the SS01 collection I only heard praise ... and I even saw "copies" of his Marlboro top -from that season- in HERE!
I dunno ... I think that somehow he stands out in the NY fashion scene (but that's MY interpretation) ... I could even say he's got his niche ...