Fashion Illustrator Extraordinaire– David Downton.

One of the most inspirational talks at London Fashion Weekend was from fashion illustrator and portraitist extraordinaire David Downton. In the early 20^th Century illustration dominated how we understood fashion; photography was just too expensive. As technology developed illustration dropped out of mainstream glossy magazines and photography became the go to medium. A dying art it may have been, but David Downton’s distinct style and knack of capturing a person has revived fashion illustration. He is responsible for making it fashionable once again. But it was his humour and honestly that was so refreshing, as he reflected on his career in the wonderful, but at times, “gaudy” world of fashion.

David Downton is the artist in residence at Claridge’s hotel, which means when he’s in London he lives there and draws famous people from their secret list. It sounds incredibly enviable and glamorous, but it wasn’t always this way. Born in the countryside in Kent, he described himself as an unparalleled artist until the age of 10. Parents and friends told him how wonderfully talented he was, and he won the art prize at his school. Yet when he went to Art College, he discovered that everyone there could do exactly what he could. So he “sulked his way through college and got a poor degree”(his words). Regaining this former confidence has been his life’s mission.

After college David moved to London and worked in what today would be described as a call centre. His friends there were aspiring artists and actors, but he didn’t even want to look at his portfolio, as he didn’t think it was worth anything. One day a friend asked to see it, and his reaction was WOW! Next door to the call centre was a teen magazine, and with this encouragement he went next door to show them his portfolio. He thought “ I’m crap and it’s a crap magazine, so we suit each other really well.” They gave him a job.

So he became a jobbing illustrator, drawing whatever anyone asked him to draw, “wagging the tail”. At that time, work was easy to come by, but he had no specific specialism and no idea of what he wanted to do.

A phone call can change your life, and it did for David. “Do you want to go to Paris and do couture?” and so, wagging the tail, he jumped on Eurostar to go to a Valentino fitting at the Ritz. Aghhh! Before he left, he asked his wife “What shall I wear?” and in that cutting way that only a spouse can, she retorted, “Not everyone will be looking at you.” When he entered the Ritz it was as if someone had parted curtains into a wonderful world. He just knew he had to find someway of getting back there for the following season. For the first time ever David had a vision, a focus and an ambition of what he wanted his career to be. Twenty years later he is still doing it.

The fashion world is elitist and built on exclusion, so David dealt with it in a unique way. It was his alter ego, named DD, who walked into the Ritz that very first day, and it was DD speaking to us at London Fashion Weekend. Seeing DD as a separate entity has been a trick that has helped him overcome his inhibitions, “I can’t do it but he can.” It was DD who plucked up the courage to ask Marie Helvin in 1998 whether he could do a drawing of her. Much to his surprise, she agreed, and because she liked his portrait so much, she sent a note to her friends Jerry Hall and Joan Collins with a copy of her picture saying that they should let David draw them. They all agreed. So in a bizarre twist of fate, he went from knowing no-body to knocking on the doors of and drawing legendary people. Sixteen years after that first portrait, David Downton has collated all his drawings together in a book- Portraits of the World’s Most Stylish Women.

In terms of influence, he hails the illustrator Renee Gruau as a genius and the master of fashion illustration. He also pays homage to Christian Lacroix, his idol saying, “I could never do his clothes justice. The lights have dimmed at couture without him.” Whilst David Downton recognises the importance of these great men in influencing his work, he hates people copying his work, describing it as unflattering and creepy. “Imitation is killing. Everyone has influences, but you have to find your own response,”- great advice no matter what your art form.