When Miguel Adrover Bit the Hand that Fed Him, Anna Wintour Bit Back
In only two issues, Industrie, a British glossy that puts fashion heavyweights under scrutiny, has already established itself as the provocateur’s provocateur. And that’s just from the cover of Marc Jacobs in drag. Inside, delights continued with a profile on former indie sensation Miguel Adrover. The elusive Spanish designer, chased down for weeks for the interview, reveals a surprising anecdote: “In 2000, [Adrover] had been nominated for Best Avant-Garde Designer in the Vogue/VH1 Awards. While vacationing on a boat on the Nile, his PR called him and said: ‘Anna Wintour says you have to be here the day after tomorrow because you have been nominated for the VH1 Fashion Awards and, confidentially, you won.’
Adrover couldn’t possibly make it to New York in two days. “Later they call me back,” he says, “and Anna got on the phone—this is ridiculous to say, but it’s true, it happened—Anna got on the phone and she say, ‘Miguel?’ I say: ‘Yeeees?’ She say: ‘You know, Vogue has been very supportive of you. You’d better be here the day after tomorrow to pick up the award.’ I say: ‘Anna, even if I wanted to, I cannot make it.’ And she put the phone down.” At the ceremony, Nicolas Ghesquière won the award Adrover had supposedly already won. “The VH1 Fashion Award is superficial, no?” he continues. “The Perry Ellis I thought was serious, I felt very proud getting that. But this one I was not really interested in.”
Later in the story, Adrover, who now runs a coffee shop in Mallorca and designs for the German eco-brand Hess Natur, acknowledges Wintour’s support, saying, “Maybe it was a mistake from my side not to play the game a bit more. But at the same time, I think not paying the game took me to where I am today. I am one of the happiest people in the world.”