Keanan Duffy

Keanan Duffty is an award-winning British fashion designer, musician and educator. Duffty is the author of “Rebel Rebel Anti-Style” (Rizzoli/Universe, 2009), a member Council of Fashion Designers of America and CFDA Education Committee member. He graduated from Central Saint Martins in London with a Bachelor of Arts degree 1st class honors, in fashion. Duffty dressed the Sex Pistols for their 2003 American tour and in 2006 he collaborated with David Bowie to create a fashion collection for the US retailer Target. Duffty was the stylist for the 2016 CFDA Awards tribute to Bowie, featuring Tilda Swinton and Michael C. Hall with costumes by Kansai Yamamoto and Donatella Versace. He is founding Director of the Masters in Fashion Management program at Parsons School of Fashion in New York.

Keanan Duffty’s namesake fashion collection was established in 1998, shown at New York Fashion Week until 2010, and sold at 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, Ben Sherman, Dr. Martens, Gola, Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B, Reebok and worked as Design Director for John Varvatos Star ★ USA and Moods of Norway. Duffty was fashion editor-at-large for SOMA Magazine from 2014-2019 and he is regularly featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and WWD and Business of Fashion. Duffty has written stories about Diesel’s Stefano Rosso, CFDA President Steven Kolb, Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle), Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire).

From 2008 to 2011 Duffty co-hosted “The Juice” on Emmy Award Winning Plum TV where he interviewed 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 and Chase Crawford of Gossip Girl. Duffty was the mentor on TLC’s “Faking It: From Fatigues to Fashionista” and he was featured on MTV, Video Fashion, E! Entertainment and Behind the Velvet Ropes. Duffty hosted radio shows on Little Water Radio, Sirius XM Radio, East Village Radio and appeared as a guest on founding Sex Pistol Steve Jones’ radio show “Jonesy’s Jukebox”.

Duffty has given lectures at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo Japan, Polimoda in Florence Italy, and in the USA at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Academy of Art University, Drexel University, Philadelphia University, Hastings University, Fordham Fashion Law, Marist College, LIM College and the Brooklyn Museum.

Keanan Duffty has been lead singer in the band Slinky Vagabond, alongside Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), Clem Burke (Blondie), and Earl Slick (David Bowie/John Lennon). Slinky Vagabond made their debut in May 2007 as part of Joey Ramone’s annual Birthday Bash at Irving Plaza NYC. In 2008, XS games launched Pop Star Guitar for the Wii and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. Songs included “Glitterbug” from Slinky Vagabond.

Duffty performed at the Marc Bolan 30th Anniversary show at the Delacorte Theatre, Central Park, NYC in September 2007 alongside Patti Smith, Scissor Sisters, Moby, Lloyd Cole and the New York Dolls. On April 18, 2008, Duffty performed with Clem Burke at the opening of the John Varvatos boutique in the former CBGB’s at 315 Bowery. The line-up featured performances by Slash, Tom Morrello, Joan Jett, Alan Vega, Ronnie Spector, Ian Hunter, and Cheetah Chrome.

Keanan Duffty’s music is available on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube, iTunes and other streaming services and includes performances by Midge Ure (co-founder, Live Aid/Visage/Ultravox), Dave Formula (Magazine/Visage) and Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks). Duffty hosted the ‘Rebel Rebel’ show on Little Water Radio in New York from 2016-2018 and those archived shows can be streamed on Mixcloud.