Miguel Adrover: Chic for Sheep
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Visko Hatfield
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NEW YORK, Feb 11, 2001/ FWD/ -- Designer Miguel Adrover spent six weeks in Egypt researching
for his Fall/Winter 2001 collection and it showed right from the entranceway, which resembled a
swarming Third World souk or a fight at a camel fair.
The cast of characters was, of course, a throng of fashionistas fighting angrily in icy winds
to enter the show staged in a fish market on the Lower East Side late Sunday night.
Arguments
broke out among the hundreds of guests clutching their invitations, so much so that Vogue
editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who discovered Adrover, turned back and left.
"The crush was so great with everyone pressing forward. It was simply ridiculous and pointless
waiting any longer," Wintour told FWD.
Those who made it inside witnessed an exotic collection held under a Moorish tent engulfed in
incense and patchouli fumes.
On each seat a note from Adrover and his creative director
Sebastian Pons read, "We want to say thank you to all our friends in Luxor, Egypt who helped
us out and helped us to understand their country."
This, however, was a trip around the Arab world with a difference.
Sure there were caftans
sweeping the floor, layered tunics, harem pants and Janissaries jodhpurs.
But Adrover also
sent out dirty working women in stained djellabahs, nomads with bulky packages tottering on
their heads and cross-dressing Cairo businesswomen.
The crowd commotion continued inside the tent when a shepherdess failed to convince a live sheep
to enter the runway.
An agitated member of the fashion flock then leapt onto the runway and
led the little lamb backstage, while the model, veil askew, wandered desperately around the
U-shaped catwalk.
Somewhere among the mayhem there were some great items like plaid jackets, neat military
pants and finely printed Moorish dresses.
The loose cut may well appeal to larger women.
But the layered look will likely be far too complicated and time consuming for most women to
attempt.
The lengthy caravanserai of a show had 65 passages and a few great moments.
But it was hard
not to notice the furrowed brows and perplexed faces of department store bigs who sat front-row.
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