Keanan Duffty
Encyclopedia
Keanan Duffty is an award winning British fashion designer and musician based in New York City. Duffty studied fashion design at 'Central St. Martin's' in London, and was awarded a first class Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Early years

Duffty has always believed that music and fashion go hand in hand. He was a founding member of the British Punk band Sordid Details along with Martin Beard (Drums), Jonathan Cameron (vocals) and Dave Huzzard (Bass). Formed in 1978 (when Keanan was 14 years old), Sordid Details built a strong reputation in the North of England and were heavily influenced by the Sex Pistols, for whom Duffty would later design stage clothes.

In 1980, Duffty formed Wonder Stories
Wonder Stories
Wonder Stories was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, when his media company Experimenter Publishing went...

, a New Romantic group influenced by David Bowie and Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...

. Wonder Stories gained support from Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell and good reviews in the 'Sounds' music paper. Wonder Stories played a number of gigs during 1980 and 1981, but by 1982 Duffty had chosen to study fashion design at St Martin's School Of Art in London. Keanan also worked at PX, the signature New Romantic boutique in London and former haunt of Visage
Visage
Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...

 vocalist Steve Strange.

By 1983, Duffty was discovered by an experienced music business manager, Falcon Stuart, former manager of Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...

, X Ray Spex and Classix Nouveau. Stuart encouraged Duffty to record demos for EMI and MCA records eventually releasing a 12" dance mix of "Water Sport" on Falcon Stuart's "Awesome" Records label (AOR4). Duffty also recorded a 4 song session at Maida Vale Studios for BBC Radio 1 DJ Janice Long
Janice Long
Janice Long is an English radio broadcaster currently working on BBC Radio 2. Her show is on Sunday to Thursday nights from midnight to 02:00. She is the older sister of TV and radio personality Keith Chegwin.-Early career:...

. "Water Sport" received great reviews, including record of the week in Smash Hits
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...

, good reviews in the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 and became an underground club hit in the UK. Duffty played a number of shows in London including the ID Magazine Fifth anniversary party at the ICA. Both his music and fashion designs received positive reviews in the British music and style press.

Duffty relocated to New York in 1993 where he recorded the song "I Am an Alien". The Video featured famed downtown diva Amanda Lepore
Amanda Lepore
Amanda Lepore is an American model, nightclub hostess, fashion icon, performance artist, and transgender icon. She has appeared in advertising for numerous companies, including M.A.C. cosmetics, Mego Jeans, The Blonds, Swatch, CAMP Cosmetics, and Heatherette, which has used her likeness on...

 as a futuristic nurse and has become a cult classic on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

.

Fashion

Keanan Duffty established his eponymous fashion label in 1999. The collection is inspired by subversive subcultures and mixes high fashion with youth culture, music and British iconography. Over 70 premium specialty retailers carry the collection including Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman....

, Bloomingdales, Lounge in New York, Maxfield, Theodore, H Lorenzo and Fred Segal
Fred Segal
Fred Segal is an upscale Los Angeles, California based clothing retailer. There are currently two Fred Segal stores: one in Hollywood and the other in Santa Monica....

 in LA, Lane Crawford
Lane Crawford
Lane Crawford is a retailing company with specialty stores selling designer label luxury goods in Hong Kong and Beijing, China....

 and Joyce in Hong Kong, Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols, founded in 1813, is an upmarket department store chain. Its original store is in London. Founded in 1813 as a linen shop, it sells many international brands of clothing for women and men, fashion accessories, beauty products, wine and food...

 in London, and Beams and Journal Standard in Japan.

Keanan Duffty's clothes have a celebrity following that includes David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

, Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

, The New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...

, Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

, Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

, Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...

, The Offspring
The Offspring
The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Known as Manic Subsidal until 1986, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg K. and drummer Pete Parada...

, Stray Cats
Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...

, Elizabeth Jagger
Elizabeth Jagger
Elizabeth "Lizzy" Scarlett Jagger is an English-American model and actress. She is the oldest daughter of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, and the paternal half-sister to Jade Jagger.-Early life and career:...

, Ivanka Trump
Ivanka Trump
Ivanka Marie Trump is an American businesswoman, socialite, heiress, and fashion model. The daughter of Ivana and Donald Trump, she is Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions at The Trump Organization...

, Steven Dorff, Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...

, The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...

, Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Nicole Simpson is an American singer and actress. In 2004, she rose to prominence with the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and the reality series, The Ashlee Simpson Show. In October 2005, following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released...

, Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Jayne Milano is an American actress and former singer, known for her childhood role as Samantha Micelli in the sitcom Who's the Boss? and an eight-year stint as Phoebe Halliwell on the series Charmed. She was also a series regular on the original Melrose Place portraying the role of...

, Kevin Dillon
Kevin Dillon
Kevin Dillon is an American actor.Kevin Dillon is also the name of:*Kevin Dillon , character from Rodman Philbrick's young adult novel Freak the Mighty and the film based on it, The Mighty...

, Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...

, and N'Sync. He once designed a space suit for Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American business magnate, author, magazine publisher, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising...

.

In 2007, Duffty drew inspiration from rock legend David Bowie to create a limited-edition men's collection for Target stores nationwide.

Duffty's clothes have been featured on prominent TV shows including American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

, Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Queer Eye
Queer Eye is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network in July 2003. The program's name was changed from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after the third season to broaden the scope of its content...

, Rock Star: Supernova and several music videos. Duffty also designs the clothes for his rock band Slinky Vagabond.

In 2010, Duffty announced the return of his signature label, reentering the market with a contemporary men's collection for spring. The collection will launch with 50 pieces, including woven shirts, knits, outerwear, skinny jeans, vests, trenchcoats and band jackets. On September 10, Duffty staged a "guerilla-style" fashion show in New York City. The models arrived by bus and marched around Lincoln Center with protest signs displaying lyrics from 80's pop songs by Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

 and Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...

.

Slinky Vagabond

Keanan Duffty is lead singer in the band Slinky Vagabond, alongside Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock is an English bass guitarist most famous for being in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. Drummer Paul Cook has said that Matlock came up with much of the music for the band's songs and most of the lyrics, while lead singer Johnny Rotten made some adjustments...

 of the Sex Pistols, Clem Burke
Clem Burke
Clem Burke is an American musician who is the drummer for the band Blondie. Recruited by Chris Stein and Debbie Harry when they were first forming Blondie, Burke remained with the band through its first stage and later returned for its late 1990s reunion and then its extensive 2009 tour.Following...

 of Blondie, and Earl Slick
Earl Slick
Earl Slick is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, Jim Diamond and Robert Smith, although he has also worked with other artists , John Waite, and even released some solo recordings.In the early 1970s, Earl Slick gained his...

 (David Bowie's guitarist). Slinky Vagabond made their debut in May 2007 at Irving Plaza as part of Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone was an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey Ramone was born Jeffry Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman...

's annual birthday bash. Slinky Vagabond also performed for Gen Art during New York fashion week and at the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. In 2008, XS games launched "Pop Star Guitar" for Wii and PlayStation2 computer entertainment system. Songs include 'Glitterbug' from Slinky Vagabond, along with tracks by Fall Out Boy, Paramore and All-American Rejects.

Duffty also performed at the Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...

 30th Anniversary show at the Delacorte Theatre in September 2007 alongside Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

, Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters are an American band "spawned by the scuzzy, gay nightlife scene of New York" who took their name from a sexual position between two women also known as tribadism...

, Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...

, Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole is an English singer and songwriter, known for his role as lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989, and for his subsequent solo work.-Early life:...

 and the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...

. On April 18, 2008 Keanan was part of an extraordinary concert line-up featuring performances by Clem Burke, Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...

, Tom Morrello, Alan Vega
Alan Vega
Alan Vega For several years other sources stated that he was born in 1948 – see 'Myth' section is an American vocalist, primarily known for his work with electronic protopunk duo, Suicide...

, Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...

, Ian Hunter
Ian Hunter (singer)
Ian Hunter Patterson is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer of the English rock band Mott the Hoople from its inception in 1969 to its dissolution in 1974, and he again fronted them at the time of their 2009 reunion. Hunter was a musician and songwriter before Mott The Hoople, and...

, Cheetah Chrome, Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...

, and Handsome Dick Manitoba. The worlds of music and fashion fused as John Varvatos
John Varvatos
John Varvatos is an American contemporary high fashion menswear designer.- Biography :The Varvatos family are originally from the small village of Poulata on the Greek island of Cefalonia. John Varvatos was born in Detroit and grew up in Allen Park, a Downriver community situated south of the city...

 celebrated the opening of his second boutique in New York City at 315 Bowery, a space that formerly housed the seminal underground music club CBGB's.

In May 2008, Duffty was a featured performer at the Loser's Lounge tribute to The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...

 at Joe's Public Theatre in New York City with Earl Slick. Keanan regularly sings at downtown New York events such as 'Bowie Ball', held bi-annually at Don Hill's club in the Village.

Television

Duffty's television credits include serving as host since 2008 on Emmy award winning Plum TV’s show 'The Juice', where he has interviewed many cultural icons - from Gore Vidal to Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Elvis Costello, Russell Simmons, punk impresario Malcolm McLaren, and actors Laura Dern, Courteney Cox, Alec Baldwin and Chase Crawford of Gossip Girl. Duffty has appeared as a mentor on TLC’s Faking It, and has been featured extensively on MTV, Videofashion, E! Entertainment, Sirius XM Radio and BLUE GOLD, a new documentary on the iconic blue jean.

Rebel Rebel-Anti Style

In 2009, Duffty wrote (with Paul Gorman
Paul Gorman
Paul Gorman is an English writer.-Career:From 1978, Gorman worked on weekly news for trade publications. In 1983, Gorman won the Periodical Publishers Association award for campaigning journalism for a series of investigative food industry articles and in 1990 was appointed west coast bureau chief...

) "Rebel Rebel-Anti Style." Tracing the roots of rebel style to the music scene, the book explores how fashionable music and "anti-fashion" icons, like David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, and Gwen Stefani, have inspired fashion. The book was published by Rizzoli (US) and Adelita (UK).

Duffty has given a series of "Rebel Rebel-Anti Style" lectures at fashion schools, including the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons The New School in New York City, Marist College, the Academy of Art San Francisco, LIM College, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Velvet Revolver

In 2008, Duffty received 2 instrumental tracks from Sanctuary Management, the representatives of Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver is an American hard rock supergroup consisting of former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, alongside Dave Kushner formerly of punk band Wasted Youth. Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was Velvet Revolver's lead singer from their formation until...

. The 2 demo tracks were titled 'Muthafucka' and 'Clappy'. Duffty's challenge was to write and record vocals and lyrics for these songs. Duffty went into Club House studios in Upstate New York with Earl Slick as producer. The resulting session produced new versions of the Velvet Revolver instrumentals now entitled 'Fear No Evil' and 'Prima Donna'.

Malcolm McLaren Documentary

Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...

: Spectacular Failure” is a documentary film currently under development. Producers Keanan Duffty and Daniel Honan captured the last interview with this icon of fashion, punk and rebellion in 2008 in Long Island, New York. McLaren talked extensively about the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

 and how important it was for the band to 'fail magnificently'. He also gave insights into his work on the 'Duck Rock
Duck Rock
Duck Rock is an album released by British impresario Malcolm McLaren In 1983. The album mixes up styles from South Africa, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and the US, including hip hop. The album proved to be highly influential in bringing hip hop to a wider audience in the UK...

'
album and his many projects over the years, including his design partnership and personal life with Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...

, his 430 King's
Road boutique, and most recent art film based on the 1994 'Paris' album.

Achievements

July 2007 - Keanan Duffty is welcomed as a new member of the CFDA.

January 2007 - Duffty is appointed as design consultant for Ben Sherman
Ben Sherman
Ben Sherman is a British based clothing company, designing shirts, suits, shoes, accessories and other items that are, in common with many British brands, now made overseas, largely in the Far East. Their designs sometimes feature the Royal Air Force roundel which is often called the mod target...

 tailored clothing in the United States and design consultant for Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...

's L.A.M.B. women's wear collection.

2007 – In collaboration with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Duffty creates the 'Bowie by Keanan Duffty' collection for Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

. The collection debuts at Target in 1,400 stores across the USA.

2006 - Duffty launched his 'England's Dreaming' collection at Target stores nationwide and at www.target.com, as a permanent brand in menswear.

2005 - Created a signature scent for Aveda
Aveda
Aveda Corporation is a company headquartered in Blaine, Minnesota, that manufactures skin care, cosmetics, perfume, hair care products, and trains students in cosmetology and esthiology at the Aveda Institutes in Minneapolis, New York City, Washington, DC, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and many other...

. Designed a 'Bearbrick' made by cult Japanese toy company Medicom, which was featured in Time Magazine. Designed a KD 'Dunny' toy for Kid Robot based on his fall '05 collection, "A Hard Day's Knight".

2003 - Duffty won the Fashion Group International Rising Star Award, dresses the Sex Pistols and Aerosmith for their American tours, and stages a runway show using Barbie dolls on a conveyor belt.

2000–2003 - Duffty began an immensely successful collaboration with Reebok
Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...

 in one of the first designer sneaker collaborations in the industry. Collaborated with Gola
Gola
Gola may refer to:Groups and tribes:*Gola , in Balochistan, Pakistan*Gola people, a tribal people and language in Liberia*Gola , native to south-east Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh regions of IndiaPlace names:...

, Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens is a traditional British footwear brand, which also makes a range of accessories – shoe care products, clothing, luggage, etc. In addition to Dr. Martens, they are known as Doctor Martens, Doc Martens, Docs or DMs...

and Alfred Sargent footwear.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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