DD 21

What happens when the world’s most feted fashion artist looks back on two decades of shows with a new tome?

Over the past twenty years, David Downton has carved an elegant niche for himself in the fashion world – with front row seats, glamazons on speed dial and a residency at Claridges. Now, with a world tour almost completed, the Sussex-based artist is as close as it gets to being a rock star draughtsman.

To celebrate he has compiled his favourite fashion sketches into one exquisite book. DD 21 is, as the name suggests, a compilation of Downton’s favourite fashion moments from more than 20 years of sketching Paris’s haute couture shows each January and July. A beautiful limited edition of 900 comes with a hand-numbered and signed ex libris (£90) while an art edition, in a cloth slipcase, contains an archive print from Versace’s A/W 1996 show (£200). Downton will be signing books and will also be in conversation at The Shop at Bluebird’s new Covent Garden store on 31 May. 

Expect to be regaled with his most memorable moments, which are, as you’d expect, pleasingly rarified. “I loved Lacroix. A magician, a colourist the equal of Matisse and a true gentleman. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house during his final couture show,” Downton tells us from San Francisco on the US leg of his grand tour. “As to individual shows, I don’t think anyone who saw Galliano’s Marchesa Cassati show at the Opera Garnier in 1998, will ever forget it…. a tour de force, it left seen-it-all cynics breathless.” 

31st May 2018, 6:30pm at The Shop at Bluebird, Carriage Hall, 29 Floral Street, London WC2E 9DP

This event is open to the public but if you would like to reserve a place please email info@fashionillustrationgallery.com