KEANAN DUFFTY
Award-Winning British Fashion Designer, Musician, and Author
In all my years, I can't think of anyone who is as dedicated to their students, and POSITIVE and encouraging – but also EXPERIENCED, talented, and inspirational to students as you.
– Sara Kozlowski, Vice President of Program Strategies, Education + Sustainability Initiatives
Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)
– Sara Kozlowski, Vice President of Program Strategies, Education + Sustainability Initiatives
Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)
ABOUT KEANAN
Keanan Duffty is an award-winning British fashion designer, musician, and educator. Duffty is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the co-author of "Rebel Rebel: Anti-Style" (with Paul Gorman, Adelita UK, Rizzoli US, 2009). The book explores the synergy of fashion and music. Duffty graduated from Central Saint Martins in London earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours. He dressed the Sex Pistols for their 2003 American tour and in 2007 collaborated with David Bowie to create a fashion collection for the US retailer Target. Duffty was invited to be the stylist for the prestigious 2016 CFDA Board of Directors Tribute Award to Bowie featuring Tilda Swinton and Michael C. Hall, with original costumes by Kansai Yamamoto and Donatella Versace. Duffty created the Master's in Fashion Management at Parsons and served as the founding Director of the program. He currently serves as Director of Fashion Programs, Provost's Office, at Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Keanan Duffty 's namesake fashion collection was established in 1998, shown at New York Fashion Week until 2010, and sold globally at over 150 stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, Barneys New York, Harvey Nichols London, Lane Crawford Hong Kong, Baycrews, and Journal Standard in Japan. Duffty has collaborated with Aveda, Dr. Martens, Gola, Reebok and served as Design Director for John Varvatos, Ben Sherman, Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B, and Moods of Norway. Duffty was fashion editor-at-large for San Francisco-based SOMA Magazine from 2014-2019 and he has interviewed numerous cultural influencers including Diesel's Stefano Rosso, CFDA President Steven Kolb, Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle), Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), and Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire). Duffty features in numerous books including "Sweet Dreams, The Story of the New Romantics", "David Bowie: A Life" and "When Ziggy Played Guitar" all by Dylan Jones. Duffty is quoted regularly in major international media publications including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Women's Wear Daily, Forbes, and Business of Fashion.
From 2008 to 2011 Duffty co-hosted "The Juice" on Emmy Award-Winning Plum TV and interviewed celebrities including Gore Vidal, Donna Karan, Laura Dern, Tommy Hilfiger, Russell Simmons, Elvis Costello, Mark Ronson, Perry Farrell, Malcolm McLaren, Edward Norton, Taraji P Henson, Alec Baldwin, Courtney Cox, Dame Zandra Rhodes, John Varvatos, and Chase Crawford. Duffty was the mentor on The Learning Channel's "Faking It: Fatigues to Fashionista" and has been featured on MTV, Video Fashion, E! Entertainment, and Behind the Velvet Ropes. Duffty has hosted radio shows on Little Water Radio, Sirius XM Radio, East Village Radio and appeared as a guest on Sex Pistol Steve Jones radio show "Jonesy's Jukebox."
Keanan Duffty co-founded Slinky Vagabond with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), Clem Burke (Blondie), and Earl Slick (David Bowie/John Lennon), making their debut in May 2007 alongside the New York Dolls at the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash fundraiser for the Lymphoma Research Foundation. In September 2007 Duffty performed at the Marc Bolan 30th Anniversary show at the Delacorte Theatre in New York's Central Park alongside Patti Smith, Scissor Sisters, New York Dolls, and Moby. "Boys Keep Swinging" by Slinky Vagabond was included on "Hero: The Main Man tribute to David Bowie" and in 2008, XS games launched Pop Star Guitar for the Wii and PlayStation 2 including the track "Glitterbug" by Slinky Vagabond. As part of the Hilfiger Sessions 2008 concert series at Webster Hall in New York City, Duffty joined Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) and Matt Sorum (Guns n' Roses) on stage with the supergroup Camp Freddy.
Keanan Duffty's music, including the albums "Watersport", "I am an Alien", "Total Dragon Pop" and "Subway Symphonies" are available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal, and Soundcloud. The latest Slinky Vagabond album "King Boy Vandals" (2021) was written and recorded in collaboration with guitarist, producer, and songwriter Fabio Fabbri and features guest performances by Midge Ure (Live Aid/Visage/Ultravox), Dave Formula (Magazine/Visage), Richard Fortus (Psychedelic Furs/Guns n' Roses), David Torn (David Bowie/David Sylvian), Tony Bowers (Durutti Column/Simply Red) and Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash).
Keanan Duffty 's namesake fashion collection was established in 1998, shown at New York Fashion Week until 2010, and sold globally at over 150 stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, Barneys New York, Harvey Nichols London, Lane Crawford Hong Kong, Baycrews, and Journal Standard in Japan. Duffty has collaborated with Aveda, Dr. Martens, Gola, Reebok and served as Design Director for John Varvatos, Ben Sherman, Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B, and Moods of Norway. Duffty was fashion editor-at-large for San Francisco-based SOMA Magazine from 2014-2019 and he has interviewed numerous cultural influencers including Diesel's Stefano Rosso, CFDA President Steven Kolb, Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle), Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), and Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire). Duffty features in numerous books including "Sweet Dreams, The Story of the New Romantics", "David Bowie: A Life" and "When Ziggy Played Guitar" all by Dylan Jones. Duffty is quoted regularly in major international media publications including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Women's Wear Daily, Forbes, and Business of Fashion.
From 2008 to 2011 Duffty co-hosted "The Juice" on Emmy Award-Winning Plum TV and interviewed celebrities including Gore Vidal, Donna Karan, Laura Dern, Tommy Hilfiger, Russell Simmons, Elvis Costello, Mark Ronson, Perry Farrell, Malcolm McLaren, Edward Norton, Taraji P Henson, Alec Baldwin, Courtney Cox, Dame Zandra Rhodes, John Varvatos, and Chase Crawford. Duffty was the mentor on The Learning Channel's "Faking It: Fatigues to Fashionista" and has been featured on MTV, Video Fashion, E! Entertainment, and Behind the Velvet Ropes. Duffty has hosted radio shows on Little Water Radio, Sirius XM Radio, East Village Radio and appeared as a guest on Sex Pistol Steve Jones radio show "Jonesy's Jukebox."
Keanan Duffty co-founded Slinky Vagabond with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), Clem Burke (Blondie), and Earl Slick (David Bowie/John Lennon), making their debut in May 2007 alongside the New York Dolls at the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash fundraiser for the Lymphoma Research Foundation. In September 2007 Duffty performed at the Marc Bolan 30th Anniversary show at the Delacorte Theatre in New York's Central Park alongside Patti Smith, Scissor Sisters, New York Dolls, and Moby. "Boys Keep Swinging" by Slinky Vagabond was included on "Hero: The Main Man tribute to David Bowie" and in 2008, XS games launched Pop Star Guitar for the Wii and PlayStation 2 including the track "Glitterbug" by Slinky Vagabond. As part of the Hilfiger Sessions 2008 concert series at Webster Hall in New York City, Duffty joined Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) and Matt Sorum (Guns n' Roses) on stage with the supergroup Camp Freddy.
Keanan Duffty's music, including the albums "Watersport", "I am an Alien", "Total Dragon Pop" and "Subway Symphonies" are available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Tidal, and Soundcloud. The latest Slinky Vagabond album "King Boy Vandals" (2021) was written and recorded in collaboration with guitarist, producer, and songwriter Fabio Fabbri and features guest performances by Midge Ure (Live Aid/Visage/Ultravox), Dave Formula (Magazine/Visage), Richard Fortus (Psychedelic Furs/Guns n' Roses), David Torn (David Bowie/David Sylvian), Tony Bowers (Durutti Column/Simply Red) and Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash).
REBEL! REBEL! ON THE RUNWAY
Fashion Week El Paseo (2022)
REEBOK COLLABORATION
Duffty teamed with Reebok to create one of the first designer sneaker collaborations in the industry
FEATURED PRESS
Keanan In The News
LATEST VIDEOS
A Collection of Videos Featuring Keanan
MUSIC BY KEANAN
"King Boy Vandals" by Slinky Vagabond
"The nostalgic aspects of King Boy Vandals can be traced to Duffty's early forays into music when he was a teenaged member of the punk band Sordid Details in 1978. "We wanted to be the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Generation X, all of those bands," says Duffty. "We played in village halls and school gymnasiums. Wherever we could get a gig, we would play. It was great. Punk gave permission for people that didn't have the technique yet to just get out and do it." A short time later—during the New Romantic period—he co-founded the electronic collective Wonder Stories, whose music was reviewed in the popular British music publication Sounds. "Suddenly it was kind of like, 'Wow, we can do this.' And the review said we sounded like a cross between Bauhaus, Cabaret Voltaire, and a broken Electrolux vacuum cleaner. And I was thinking, 'This is great.'" After Wonder Stories broke up, Duffty reemerged as a solo artist in the mid-1980s and recorded the pop single "Water Sport." By that time, however, he was already eyeing a career in fashion. In the early 1990s, he moved to New York City where he has lived ever since."
– David Chiu, Forbes
– David Chiu, Forbes
CONTACT KEANAN
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