Contessa 2010 / 2011

He adorns himself with the most beautiful women in the world. David Downton, fashion illustrator, is the confidant of haute couture. Since his breakthrough in 1996 as the fashion world’s illustrious illustrator, the Britian native (*Kent, 1959) has risen to the pinnacle of the international fashion scene as the talented portraitist of haute couture. But despite the euphoria and overwhelming success, the rising star among the world’s rich and beautiful has always remained down to earth.

He’ll never forget the years as a young designer and illustrator when he was happy to take any job – which made his first encounter with haute couture and even greater epiphany. The intoxicating experience of the eccentric gowns in which Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, and other goddesses floated by on the Versace runway in Paris electrified Downton. But it was impossible, he quickly learned, to capture the celebrated couture looks on his sketchpad amidst the storm of flashing cameras. Thus Downton’s fashion illustrations all come to life backstage, where the models are dressed and fixed up, and in the breaks before they return to the runway. Later, in the peace and quiet of his atelier, he finishes and accentuates the hastily drawn images with black ink, gouache, and acrylic paint.

Downton’s style relies on condensing the visual impression into an essence. He successfully translates sensual impressions and extravagance into painting and illustration by capturing the magic of a particular moment and transporting it. Downton always enjoys the challenge in fashion illustration of celebrating the elegance of the female body in stunningly lavish clothes. With the same commitment to depicting haute couture on exquisite female figures Downton also excels as a portraitist of divas and models, among them Paloma Picasso, Erin O’Connor, and Catherine Deneuve.

Pourquoi pas? – Why not? is the title of the world’s only magazine for fashion illustration, which Downton began publishing in 2007. And there seems no better way to sum up his life – and his recipe for success – than that simple question.

Almut Andreae