Duncan Quinn (DQ) is amoung a handful of people responsible for the resurgence of men’s tailoring in the USA. Although Duncan hails from London, his formative years were spent learning about life in the South of France. Past and present DQ devotees include alt rockers Green Day, LeBron James, Sean Combs, Adrian Grenier and other celebrities. Quinn continues to be driven by a delight in making unique pieces to the highest standards possible with the finest materials known to man. His clothes are constructed to “celebrate days of glory and nights of excess.” When he has a spare moment he likes nothing more than to sit and watch the world go by in the Cours Saleya, Nice, France.
DQ boutiques are in New York, Miami and LA. Duncan Quinn offers bespoke services and a ready-to-wear collection for men using fabrics from the finest mills in the world.
FYD: Who opened you to fashion?
DQ: My first suits were my dad’s old Saville Row suits that didn’t fit him anymore, which is where it all started.
FYD: When did you decide New York needed some proper English fashion?
DQ: Pretty much as soon as I arrived. I had been having my clothes made for years and had a serious habit (100’s of shirts, ties, etc). There was nothing that was well made and at the same time edgy and different. DQ grew from people asking me to have things made for them that replicated what I already wore. And what I wore was just what I liked.
Manners maketh the man…
FYD: In 2003, you arrived in NoLita on a small stretch of Spring Street. The nabe has blown up and many of the indie stores have closed. Do you like the direction the neighbourhood has taken?
DQ: It’s not the Gap and Abercrombie yet, but it has certainly changed a lot. It’s part naivety on the part of people opening stores and part New York landlords squeezing for every cent. Not a combination that makes for easy success.
What I wore was just what I liked.
FYD: I often hear a mix of Beatles and Stones coming from your shop at 8 Spring Street. Do you have allegiance to both?
DQ: I have an allegiance to neither, and enjoy both depending upon the mood. Right now the new Arctic Monkey’s Album is playing here. And it’s really rather good.
FYD: What is your favorite Bond film?
DQ: Probably Dr. No., although there is something interesting in most of them.
FYD: And your favorite Bond? The one in Ian Fleming’s books, to which Sean Connery probably came the closest.
FYD: For the sake of English football clubs, please declare your team?
DQ: Aresnal.
FYD: At least you didn’t say Chelsea.
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.
The suits (and the men in them) are so dreamy! A nice suit really can be disarming.