Drawing The Line

If you are into fashion, you will be familiar with the name Karl Langerfeld, Alexander McQueen, Miranda Kerr, or Marc Jacobs. However, if I say the name “David Downtown”, does it ring any bell? Only to some of you, I guess.

It is not because he is not a significant character in the fashion world, but because the media rarely talks about his profession (fashion illustrator), compared to designers, models, or photographers.
David Downtown is often called as “The World’s Greatest Fashion Illustrator” or “The Karl Langerfeld of Fashion Illustrator”. This article titled Drawing The Line by Lonna Edwards for The Age is a profile of Downtown.

The article talks about Downtown’s previous career path “from writing cookbooks to a sex manual”, about how he prefer not to be called “The World’s Greatest Fashion Illustrator” (‘‘who said that, anyway? My parents?''), about his career now as a fashion illustrator that has worked with fashion’s first class, and about the fashion illustrator role now, as photography take the central role in visualizing the fashion world.

In this era when illustration is not used as much as before (for advertising, magazine cover, etc.), Downtown sees the profession becoming more artisans. He said that, “The more photography dominates, the more special drawing becomes.''

The problem of this David Downtown’s profile is in the lead of the article. It starts with the plus-sized models as a short trend and how Downtown does not really keen on the issue (''Models have always been taller, thinner, younger and more beautiful than us. They are genetic accidents.'').
This lead then being related to Downtown’s works that also experiences the same ruthless fashion cycle. Still, it feels like a distant comparison that does not cohere with the story.

However, the article as a whole communicates a general idea about how fashion illustration is, through one of the great mind in it.