David Downton has attended Paris Haute Couture shows for more than a decade. His illustrations chart both the back stage and front of house of the couture world. His portfolio includes portraits of models Erin O’Connor, Lily Cole, Linda Evangelista and Carmen.

His reports have appeared in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Saturday Telegraph, Harpers Bazaar (Australia) and The Independent as well as Visionaire and Vogue and he was commissioned to create an illustrated couture portfolio for Vogue China.

David Downton’s commercial clients include Tiffany’s New York, SAKS 5th Avenue, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Burberry, and the British Fashion Council. His work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Conningsby Gallery, London (1998 and 1999) and at the Couture Voyeur show at London College of Fashion’s Fashion Space Gallery (2006). Downton has also collaborated with supermodel Erin O’Connor on a number of occasions including shows at the Rootstein Gallery, New York (2002) and at the Joyce Ma Gallery, Palais Royal, Paris (2003).

In 2006 he was commissioned by Brown’s to design the Christmas window display and invitation for their South Moulton Street store. His work has featured on the front cover of a special edition of Jane Austen’s Emma produced by the Daily Telegraph and on the cover of Cally Blackman’s 100 Years of Fashion Illustration (2007).

Downton’s most recent achievements (2013) have seen him established as Vanity Fair’s celebrity portrait artist and artist in residence at Claridge’s London which hosted an exhibition of portraits he had made in the hotel’s Fumoir of some of fashion’s most well known faces including Paul Smith Diane von Fürstenberg and Alber Elbaz.