For a man living in a remote village of 700 people on one of the Balearic Islands, Miguel Adrover seems to have an enduring appeal for the fashion world.
Twenty-five years after the Spanish designer first shook up New York Fashion Week with his combination of reimagined vintage logos, quality tailoring and streetwear, Adrover is ready to shake the floor once again with a one-off product that aptly speaks to itself and once The city of 8 million that he calls home. But this time, Adrover took the idea not from a run-down, overcrowded Lower East Side apartment, as in 1995, but from a quieter, 750-year-old farmhouse where six generations of his family grew up.
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Having approximately 98,000 Instagram followers, including young people looking for products, led the 58-year-old artist to redesign. Another move came from brands such as Balenciaga and Gucci “adopting” their own (design) “language”. The new baseball cap with the “MA” logo is faintly reminiscent of the New York Yankees’ trademarked logo. The Bronx-based Major League Baseball team sued him after he used a similar emblem for a sweatshirt from its fall 2000 collection. The designer said both parties reached an agreement before any production took place.
Although baseball caps and sweatshirts are very common on runways today, Adrover said that wasn’t the case when she featured them years ago. Adrover, who teased them in an Instagram post on Thursday ahead of their May 12 release, said the reintroduction of this signature style was “a bit ironic in some ways.” And that’s doubly true, given that Gucci created a New York Yankees baseball cap, even though it was licensed.
Adrover, winner of the CFDA’s 2000 New Designer of the Year award, at one point sold his collection to Bergdorf Goodman and other high-end retailers. “The message I was trying to convey was that the New York Yankees represent New York City and I am a New York designer. I was trying to embrace all these logos like ‘I❤️NY’ and McDonald’s. It wasn’t made to be a trendy thing, as it is done now. “I thought it represented the power of style in a city like New York,” Adrover said, adding that even people in his small village wore Yankees hats.
While Adrover still owns a sublet bar in Mallorca, he lives with his aging parents in the village to help them out. This was another incentive to sell the hats, as Adrover was no longer allowed to rent part of his home to tourists due to the government’s recent restrictions on short-term rentals by private residents. Available in two sizes and without a buckle, the hats are by Adrover and feature hand-sewn labels, and it took 18 months of research to decide on the factory. They will retail for about $174, which he said is much less than the $434 Balenciaga baseball caps he saw on sale in Paris.
In addition to working on her own photography and art, which is represented through a gallery in Paris, Adrover was also photographed for the Vivienne Westwood advertising campaign earlier this year. Adrover routinely descends into a 11.5-meter shaft to work on his art. In her own campaign, she wore the hat and a scrappy Yankees-inspired sweatshirt for a self-portrait. Her decision to return to fashion, or at least make a small splash, stems from her desire to express her environmentalism and social consciousness. The launch’s Instagram ad sarcastically references “I❤️MyCustomers.”
He added: “You can see in my archives that many of my items will last a lifetime. I loved Lee McQueen. We were very good friends. But I can’t go back to McQueen’s collections and wear anything in daily life.”
Adrover said that although he was “never an ambitious person”, he still held a position in the industry as someone who spoke out on current issues. He criticized the Met Gala for being “one big circus completely detached from reality” and no longer a gala for “New York elites and intellectual bohemians.” “There were protesters for Palestine outside the Met. My label is based on reality. “There are a lot of people looking for a brand that represents that kind of emotion and energy.”
Adrover, who claimed he had been approached for roles at Donna Karan, Moschino, Lanvin and Tommy Hilfiger over the years, said he did not need to be a “creative servant of a big corporate brand”.
“Young people need to have their own platform, space and community,” he said.
Noting how the fashion industry contributes to pollution, which accounts for 10 percent of global carbon emissions, and its impact on climate change, Adrover said there should be more designers who care about these real things. “This doesn’t mean you have to be boring. I think I have a strong sense of humour. I need someone with money to knock on my door and say, ‘Miguel, we believe in you and your message.’ “We want to achieve this in the commercial field as well.”
“What has been considered toxic in this industry for years,” Adrover said: “I’m not toxic. This is the other way.”
He can’t wait to see how his friend and former employee Adrian Appiolaza will perform as Moschino’s new creative director. Adrover is also a fan of Vivienne Westwood’s creative director, Andreas Kronthaler, for his commitment to climate change and support for Julian Assange. [whom Adrover also has fought for in the name of protecting freedom of the press]. Adrover said that his social media posts about “stopping the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza” cost him “thousands” of followers and gained him “a few thousand new followers.”
Adrover, who is of Jewish and Arab descent, said he “supports peace everywhere.” The designer, who received death threats, said he was afraid. “But I’m not a racist. I’m just a loving person. “I just want people to love each other and find solutions by talking,” said Adrover. “I don’t even have a religion. I just care about people.”
Looking ahead, Adrover said it expects to make a major fashion-related announcement in September. Meanwhile, he was surprised by the reaction to the hat, which he did not expect to be so important. As of Friday afternoon, the ad on Instagram had nearly 6,000 likes. “I’m a little overwhelmed being here by myself. But I’m really happy. I’m like a kid in the countryside. It’s like starting over,” Adrover said. “What I want to get out of this baseball cap is to be able to pay for my water, electricity, and living expenses without having to take another job. But I also want to keep my creativity high, improve my Instagram page and water my garden. Let’s see what will happen.”
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