Michael Roberts is known for his striking and instantly recognizable pen-and-ink sketches, acrylic paintings and intensely witty New Yorker covers created from cut paper. His work captures the trends, shortcomings and fashionability of modern times.
In 2005, Roberts book “The Snippy World of New Yorker Fashion” was released. It includes over 100 pages of his work that was featured in Paris Vogue, Tatler, Interview, and, of course, The New Yorker. The coffee table book boasts grade-A commentary from the likes of fashion legends Anna Wintour, André Leon Talley, Manolo Blahnik and John Galliano. Tina Brown, the celebrated New Yorker editor, called him the “Jean Cocteau of the fashion world,” while Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, wrote the introduction where she deems his work “fiendishly accurate satire.”
In a strategic move, Roberts, who has enjoyed a long career as the fashion director at the New Yorker, decided to jump ship and take over the role as the style director of Vanity Fair in 2006. Rumor has it that in his first month in this new position he really shook things up in the fashion department – prompting a number of title changes and re-shoots for two upcoming potential covers. Exactly the type of stuff that fashion legends are made of.
