Line of Beauty: David Downton

The Kent-born illustrator made his name drawing beauties such as Catherine Deneuve and Paloma Picasso; now Downton has turned exhibition curator.

As told to Estella Shardlow on Monday 19th December, 2011

Downton's big break came in 1996 when the Financial Times sent him to Paris Fashion Week to draw the couture shows. It may have taken 12 years up until then to find his niche as an illustrator, but what followed were commissions from Tiffany & Co, Harrods, Chanel, Dior, Vogue and the V&A, amongst others. Last year he became the first ever Fashion Artist in Residence at Claridge's, charged with immortalising the hotel's glamourous guests in his characteristically whimsical, sinuous style. This winter he has turned his hand to curating a retrospective exhibition about his muse, Carmen dell'Orefice, who's incidentally the world's oldest working fashion model. 

I first met Carmen dell'Orefice ten years or so ago, I saw her on a David Bailey documentary and knew she was ‘a drawing’. I pestered her agent in New York to see if she would sit for me and eventually she agreed. I drew her at her apartment on Park Avenue and she paid me the compliment of taking things as seriously as she would a shoot by Avedon. You could say I fell in love with her. The drawings turned out well and we’ve been working together ever since.

It wasn’t easy to decide which photographs to include from her archive. The exhibition inevitably can only skim the surface of a 66-year career. What I tried to do was tell her story in pictures from infancy to her 80th year. We mainly used photographs from Carmen’s own collection, but we did also borrow images from the Estate of Irving Penn, from Vogue and from some contemporary photographers

My work was once described as ‘contemporary nostalgia,’ which I loved. I’m not interested in pastiche. I try to make it look effortless, which of course is the hardest thing of all, at least for me. I suppose you could say it’s a kind of controlled spontaneity.

The fact that magazines have become so dominated by photography rather than illustration is lamentible and it is the magazines' loss. They have lost pace and magic, I think. Diana Vreeland commented 30 years ago that magazines were beginning to resemble "catalogues of available merchandise”. That has never been more true…

My 20th century fashion icons are Steve McQueen, Gary Cooper, Mick Jagger, Pablo Picasso for men; The Gibson Girl, Josephine Baker and Brigitte Bardot for women.

Being artist-in-residence at Claridge's is, as I’m fond of saying, the Gig of the Century; Claridge's is Claridge's, after all, and everywhere else is everywhere else. It’s the most beautiful hotel in London and it is a great privilege for me to work and to stay there. The sleight of hand is that it manages to be both completely of the moment and utterly timeless.

QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS:
What's your favourite type of classic car?
If I could own one, I’d have James’s Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger. I’d be too embarrassed to drive it, but I’d visit it often in my garage.
What watch do you wear?
I don’t wear a watch, but if I did it would be a vintage Rolex Oysterdate c.1967.
What's your favourite city?
New York.

Due to popular demand 'Carmen: A Life In Fashion' will stay at the Fashion Space Gallery, London College of Fashion until 28th January 2012.