

It’s not a dirty job it’s the frontline.”Īt the university, Duffty met songwriter and guitarist Fabio Fabbri, who invited him to jam at his studio, and a friendship was born. “Both of us worked in retail when we were kids,” Duffty says, “and we were talking about that experience and how important that is for burgeoning fashion people to understand the consumer. In 2017, he and bassist Glen Matlock (of the Sex Pistols) gave a lecture at a fashion university there.

Over the past four years, Duffty has worked intermittently in Florence, Italy. You don’t see streetlights, and you don’t really see other people. It’s such an escape, because it takes you away from all of the rubbish in the real world. “Generally, we’re there for fun,” he says, emphasizing that he and his wife visit Joshua Tree each time. Their trips became less frequent when they returned to New York, but they came in May to shoot a couple of music videos for Slinky Vagabond’s new album, King Boy Vandals, in Joshua Tree National Park, Pioneertown, and the Amigo Room bar at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs. He earns his living through fashion and considers music more of a passion, but one feeds off the other.ĭuffty began visiting the desert when he and his wife, fashion producer Nancy Garcia, lived in San Francisco about 10 years ago. I always loved the way musicians look, whether it was James Brown in his amazing jumpsuits or Freddie Mercury and all the wild glam.”ĭuffty, a Brit who came of age in the punk era, studied at London’s renowned Central Saint Martins and co-authored (with Paul Gorman) the 2009 book Rebel Rebel: Anti-Style. 6.) “There was a golden age: Before wearing fashion became a revenue stream for musicians, they were getting their friends to make clothes for them, doing stuff that looked like it was from another planet.

(He launches a streetwear line next year, and his band, Slinky Vagabond, drops a new album Dec. “Fashion likes to think it’s leading trends, but the industry takes so much from music,” says Duffty, a fashion designer and musician. Fashion people don’t always like to admit it, says Keanan Duffty, but many of their most rebellious and scene-shifting looks trace directly to music: The Sex Pistols popularized punk.
