Slinky Vagabond

Keanan Duffty (born 28 April 1964) is a British fashion designer and musician based in New York City. Duffty studied fashion design at Saint Martin's School of Art in London, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Duffty was a founding member of the British Punk band Sordid Details with Martin Beard (Drums), Jonathan Cameron (vocals) and Dave Huzzard (Bass). Formed in 1978 in the North of England Sordid Details were influenced by the Sex Pistols, for whom Duffty would later design stage clothes.

In 1980, Duffty formed Wonder Stories, a New Romantic group influenced by David Bowie and Roxy Music. Wonder Stories gained support from Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell and reviews in the Sounds music paper. Wonder Stories performed live in 1980 and 1981, however by 1982 Duffty moved to London to study fashion design at St Martin's School of Art. Duffty worked at PX, the London New Romantic boutique and former haunt of Visage vocalist Steve Strange.

Duffty was discovered by music business insider Falcon Stuart, former manager of Adam and the Ants, and X Ray Spex. Stuart arranged for 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) in 1985. Duffty recorded a four song session at Maida Vale Studios for BBC Radio 1 DJ Janice Long. Water Sport was record of the week in Smash Hits, reviewed in the NME by Dylan Jones and became an club hit in the UK. Duffty played a number of London shows including the ID Magazine Fifth anniversary party at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Duffty relocated to New York in 1993 where he recorded the song I Am An Alien. The Video featured famed downtown diva Amanda Lepore as a futuristic nurse and has become a cult classic on YouTube.

Keanan Duffty established his fashion label and SoHo design studio 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 carried the collection from 1999-2006 including Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, Fred Segal, Lane Crawford, Harvey Nichols, Bay Crews and Journal Standard in Japan.

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