Michael Roberts Obituary, Death – (This Post in First Person Sentence) The news that the esteemed fashion journalist Michael Roberts had passed suddenly at his house in Taormina made me saddened when I heard it the previous week. He had previously served as the director of fashion and style for the publication Vanity Fair. He had previous experience working as the fashion director for The New Yorker and The Sunday Times, as well as the style director and art director for Tatler, the design director of British Vogue, the Paris editor for Vanity Fair, and the editor of Boulevard magazine.
Island of Eternal Beauties: A Road Trip Around Sicily, which he authored and for which he took the images, was published by him the year before last and was intended to be his last book. He is a big fan of Sicily and all that has to do with Sicily. The shoe designer Manolo Blahnik was the one who introduced him to Sicily in 1987. Since then, he has made frequent trips to the island and frequently uses it as a setting for his many fashion photos. Since then, he has been living in Sicily as his permanent residence.
This is what he had to say about Taomina, the neighborhood where he had recently purchased an apartment… “When frothy waves of mauve wisteria rush over its city walls during the months of April and May, Taomina might lay claim to being the most attractive and romantic site on Earth. When you reach the top of the short flight of stairs that leads to the old Greek amphitheatre that overlooks the Ionian Sea, the word “might” no longer applies. A fittingly incredible setting for him to have resided in during his final days. Since it was the first book I bought for our new home in 2007, I give his book Shot in Sicily the position of honor on the coffee table in our Sicilian home.