ManéMané

Miguel Becer (Navalmoral de la Mata, Cáceres, 1988) is the creative mind behind the acclaimed brand ManéMané and defends that, in the world of fashion, each must find their own pace. “When I started out, it seemed like there were certain steps you had to follow to be successful: win the Vogue Who's On Next Award, walk the Cibeles runway, start your own business… Some of us were lucky to do that, but then followed our own path, set by our intuition. I’m still looking for mine, a path that allows me to feel good,” he declares. This designer, who is days away from presenting his new collection at MBFWMadrid —the runway sponsored by Iberia—, shares his method before such an important event: “I’m the one taking the decisions, but we work horizontally. Everyone who is with me in the studio can take part and give their opinion. We talk a lot. Now, we are eagerly listening to the model who comes to try on the prototypes.” In 2025, ManéMané celebrated its tenth anniversary and Miguel does not deny the cult designer label he has accrued. “Because I am a bit of a punk—in the sense that I follow my own rules within fashion—, it is true that I have always been labelled as a cult designer, tied to fringe fashion.” Nevertheless, Miguel hopes to reach as much audience as possible because he believes that fashion can help improve the world.

Fashion and music, piano specifically, have been the main passions of your life. What made you choose fashion?
Although it doesn’t look like it, fashion is a much simpler environment than music. I have always moved following my intuition and, above all, curiosity. When I finished my musical studies in Cáceres, I came to Madrid—not to run away from home, but rather to find something new—and I started studying Business Management and Administration. At that moment, I was lucky to meet people from the world of fashion, and they awoke that passion in me. I’ve always been interested in dresses; I remember looking at my mother’s fashion magazines or buying Vogue as a teen.

Last year, ManéMané celebrated its tenth anniversary. With that decade of perspective, what has the brand turned into for you?
My relationship with the brand has gone through different phases. From becoming an obsession and taking up almost 100% of my day-to-day life to having certain misgivings. Now I’m in a self-compassionate phase, where I exercise fashion at an artistic and business level that I can manage without swamping myself, that I can handle with flexibility. I am also a teacher, so I split my time 50/50. I feel great.

“Identity is a living thing that travels from one place to another, but I try to base it on two outlooks: one towards folklore and another towards the future. I like to understand fashion as what’s to come”

You have dressed artists like Rosalía, Dua Lipa, Beyoncé, Jorja Smith, Lady Gaga… Is it satisfying for your designs to reach such heights?
The brand is naturally connected to the stage world and, thanks to social media, artist’s stylists ask us for customized pieces. Some have been a surprise, like Beyoncé. One day, I woke up, opened Instagram and saw her with one of our bags, which she had bought at a shop in LA. I must say that I am equally pleased seeing anyone on the street in one of our pieces. The other day, I stopped a girl and said: “What a cool shirt!” (laughs).

ManéMané has built a compelling identity. How would you define its DNA?
Identity is a living thing that travels from one place to another, but I try to base it on two outlooks: one towards folklore, which I have soaked up since my childhood (but staying away from nostalgia, which I don’t like), and another towards the future. I like to understand fashion as what’s to come. I’m always trying to have a healthy relationship with creativity.

In 2025, Miguel Becer celebrated ManéMané’s 10th anniversary with a fashion show at 080 Barcelona Fashion. © Courtesy of 080 Barcelona Fashion – via ManéMané

And in building that identity, what role have your roots played?
A critical one. As a child, I used to play a lot with clothes: at home, at my grandmother’s, at my aunts’… In the summer, I would force my cousins to dress up and go out. The fashion seed was there… Once, my mother was talking to some friends about the wedding dress of a princess, and I, as a know-it-all, told them they were wrong, that such-and-such was the designer and the dress was like this and like that. I’d seen it in a magazine and, for some reason, it had stayed with me.

Would you say that inspiration is closer than we think?
For me, it’s essential to know oneself and one’s environment to then make fashion and tell the world its story in the best way. I don’t look for inspiration outside, I’m inspired by what I have here, by my side. I want to use the tools I have to hand and then spread my message far and wide… And Beyoncé can interpret it however she likes, I’m not going to go to Texas to take Beyoncé’s identity and make it my own.

“You notice talent when you talk to a student and see, more than their skills, their willingness for those skills to progress”

You have defined your new collection—launched at MBFWMadrid on the 19^th of March—as “a deep dive on matter, gravity and human vulnerability.” How does it come to life?
The theme of the collection is related to levity, to removing transcendence from our everyday lives. A concept we have resolved by removing weight from the garments. For example: after making a shirt, we remove a back piece and use it to make a decoration. All the pieces are relatively simple, but hide these tricks to remove weight and hardness, to make them airy and lightweight.

You are an independent designer with a small set-up. Does that involve more work but also more freedom?
It is more work, I imagine more freedom too, but I would give up that freedom for less effort (laughs). We are a small team, with three permanent staff and another three who joined us to help us with the MBFWMadrid runway. When people ask me what I do at the office, I reply: “Everything.” This year, we decided to sell the collection right after launching it, so we set up a showroom at a hotel in Madrid to receive our clients. We also organize all of that and it is a lot of work.

ManéMané, where creative freedom is the norm, has been rewriting the rules of fashion for over ten years. © Courtesy of 080 Barcelona Fashion – via ManéMané

As one of the role models of new Spanish fashion, do you think there is a generational handover?
Yes, although I don’t consider myself new any more. I’ve spent eleven years hearing that I am part of the new generation, and I love it because it makes me feel young (laughs). I feel like my colleagues rally around each other; in fact, we have created a group called GENSPAIN to build a community. It is wonderful to feel heard by someone who understands you completely. We call each other to share the love, but also to complain, break free, rant…

You also teach fashion. How do you detect talent among your students.
You can see them from a mile away. You notice talent when you talk to a student and see, more than their skills, their willingness for those skills to progress. I enjoy a lot teaching. It is true that you learn from students. A talented student is, above all, someone who wants to learn. It is also key to establish support networks and remain connected to today’s fashion community. Talent is no good if you are an outsider closed off in a windowless room.

You defend that fashion can contribute to creating a better reality, in what sense?
The fashion world has been considered strange, superficial, snobby… It sounds terrible, right? (laughs). In the 2000s, if fashion was on the news, it was bad: the weight of the models, the use of furs… The industry understood that it needed to step up and be aware of the reality of the world we live in. Fashion cannot reject, it must embrace and be a tool to improve society.