David Downton

David Downton (1959) is a renowned fashion illustrator. He is well known for his work for Vogue.

Biography

David Downton was born in 1959 in Kent, England. He studied at Canterbury (Foundation year 1977-1978) and Wolverhampton (BA hons illustration/graphics 1979-1981).

In 1984 he moved to Brighton and began his illustration career. He worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from advertising and packaging to illustrating fiction, cook books and, occasionally, fashion.

In 1996, he was asked by the Financial Times to draw at the Paris couture shows and since then David has become chiefly known as a fashion illustrator. His drawings from fashion shows have been published internationally, in the USA, China and other Asian countries, Australia and the Middle East, as well as in almost every leading UK broadsheet and supplement.

David's commercial client list includes: Tiffany & Co, Bloomingdales, Barney's, Harrods, Top Shop, Chanel, Dior, L'Oreal, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, V Magazine and the Victoria&Albert Museum. In 1998, he started working on a series of portraits of some of the world's most beautiful women, including Erin O'Connor, Paloma Picasso, Catherine Deneuve, Linda Evangelista, Carmen Dell'Orefice, Iman and Dita Von Teese.

In 2007, David launched Pourquoi Pas?, the first ever journal of Fashion Illustration. He is a visiting Professor at London College of Fashion. In April 2009, he received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.^[1]

He is the artist in residence at London's Claridge's hotel, where he stays 52 nights a year in exchange for drawings according to BBC2's 2012 program - Inside Claridge's.^[2][3][4]

Work

Illustration

Bibliography

• Pourquoi Pas? magazine
• Masters of Fashion Illustration, 2010

External links

• David Downton’s web site
• David Downton’s blog at Vogue.com UK
• Amelia’s Magazine, Interview with David Downton

References