First published 2005
Michael Roberts sits at his desk, scissors in hand, transforming colored paper into razor-sharp commentary on fashion's absurdities. The former style editor has traded his writer's pen for an artist's blade, crafting collages that skewer the industry he knows intimately. His studio overflows with pen sketches, acrylic canvases, and meticulously cut paper compositions destined for New Yorker covers. Roberts navigates the tension between his insider status and outsider's eye, creating work that fashion luminaries both celebrate and wince at. Anna Wintour calls his pieces fiendishly accurate, while Manolo Blahnik admits his drawings capture moments no photograph could. As Roberts perfects his latest paper collage, he grapples with whether art should comfort or confront, wondering if his satirical lens reveals fashion's soul or merely its surface vanities.
Genres: satire, art, humor, fashion
Vibes: intimate, satirical, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-outsider, social-commentary
288 pages · Hardcover · Steidl/Edition 7L