Conversation with Keanan Duffty, Designer & Director, MPS-FM
Keanan Duffty explores the intersection between creativity and commerce, and his own connection to punk music and the DYI movement. He shares insights on the fashion industry, and the need for more independent retailers. He also discusses the MPS-Fashion Management graduate program he founded.
Keanan is an award-winning British designer, musician, educator, author of “Rebel Rebel Anti-Style” (Rizzoli/Universe, 2009) and an innovator in contemporary fashion design. Duffty is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a CFDA Education Committee member and was the stylist for the 2016 CFDA Awards tribute to David Bowie, featuring Tilda Swinton and Michael C. Hall with costumes by Kansai Yamamoto and Donatella Versace.
Duffty graduated from Central Saint Martins with a Bachelor of Arts degree with 1st Class Honors. Before graduation his work was featured extensively in The Face, i-D Magazine and Blitz photographed by Nick Knight, Iain McKell and Marc Lebon. Duffty is the founding Director of the Masters in Fashion Management at Parsons School of Design and is regularly featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Women’s Wear Daily and Business of Fashion.
The Keanan Duffty music-inspired namesake collection was established in 1998 and sold from showrooms in New York and London to 150 international retailers including Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, Harvey Nichols, Lane Crawford Hong Kong, Baycrews and Journal Standard in Japan. From 2000-2003 Duffty collaborated with Reebok on a co-branded sneaker collection. In 2006 Duffty entered into an agreement with Li & Fung and Target to launch ‘England’s Dreaming by Keanan Duffty’ at 1200 stores throughout the USA. In 2007 Duffty collaborated with David Bowie to create a limited-edition fashion collection, which sold out at Target within weeks of its debut. Duffty has collaborated with brands including Aveda, Ben Sherman, Dr. Martens, Kid Robot, Medicom, Gola, Reebok and has served as Design Director for Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B, John Varvatos ★USA and Ben Sherman.
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Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design
Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design
Executive Producer: Fashion Consort
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