DAPPER DAN

DAPPER DAN, THE MAN WHO DEFINED LUXURY STREETWEAR IN THE 80’S.

Daniel Day, more famously known by the name of Dapper Dan is a Harlem couturier. The African-American designer became a StreetSide name for luxury fashion.

Daniel Day was born on August 8^th, 1944. By the age of 13, he came to be an extremely skilled gambler. It was in this gambling circuit that he earned his title of “Dapper Dan”. After being arrested in his 20s, He cleaned up and decided to turn his life around. He started studying at Columbian University, which led him to Africa.

Upon his return to America from this trip, he was highly inspired by fashion and started his journey in this field.

24X7 BOUTIQUE OF HARLEM

When Dan returned to New York in 1974, he decided to be a clothier and first sold shoplifted items out of his car. Being a professional gambler taught him that what you wear will influence how people interact with you, so he used this unspoken language in his designs

Dapper Dan’s Boutique, the legendary Harlem couturier opened in 1982. Located on 125th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues. At times was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The unusual hours were mainly, to cater to the schedules of his unique clientele. Drug kingpins, gangsters, professional boxers, and rappers. Who commonly would stroll in during late hours after partying.

It was when the girlfriend of a drug dealer came in with a Louis Vuitton purse, and Day saw the faces in the store all turn to look at it, he realized that the power of fashion went beyond aesthetics. This led him to study symbols and their importance.

The first piece Day made was a jacket, which he trimmed with logo-printed canvas garment bags he had purchased from Gucci. The jacket was a hit after a client wore it to a party and everyone wanted to know where it came from.

Day’s illegal use of logos in his custom-made designs led to counterfeiting raids and litigation, and ultimately the demise of his first store.

In 1988 his store came into the spotlight of the New York Times. Therefore gaining the attention of European luxury companies for his usage of European luxury fashion logos. In 1992, after legal action by Fendi and then-U.S. Attorney Sonia Sotomayor, Dapper Dan’s was shut down for good. He was shunned by the mainstream fashion world for decades, though he continued to work “underground” as a designer.

DIANE DIXON

Day ventured into hip-hop fashion in 1985, when he first styled LL Cool J, and Day has since been associated with hip-hop royalty. Eric B. & Rakim wore Dapper Dan’s designs on the cover of their iconic albums Paid in Full (1987) and Follow The Leader (1988)

He noticed designers like Louis Vuitton and Gucci were only designing bags, wallets, and luggage out of leather, but he wanted to make garments out of leather. This is what essentially inspired him to make his infamous jacket for Diane Dixon

After being forced to shut down and blackballed by the fashion industry, it was the Dian Dixon Jacket that brought him back to the spotlight.

Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele designed a jacket based on the design of the Diane Dixon jacket. The original was a fur-lined jacket with balloon sleeves covered in the Louis Vuitton logo, which Michele replaced with the double-G Gucci logo.

Diane Dixon in Dapper Dan(left), Gucci Jacket (right)

Social media reacted when Dixon shared a photo of the Gucci jacket next to her in the original one, with Dixon requesting that Dapper Dan get credit for his original. Gucci later stated that the jacket was a homage to Dapper Dan.

GUCCI X DAPPER DAN

The success of the jacket made in homage to the designer Dapper Dan brought to life a unique collaboration. Michelle and Dapper Dan used a subcultural when seeking out inspiration for their collection, to ensure a unique aesthetic.

Dapper Dan x Gucci Collection

In 2017, with the support of Michele and Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri, Day and the Italian brand partnered for a line of men’s wear. By 2018, Day opened a new atelier on Lenox Avenue in partnership with Gucci, Dapper Dan of Harlem, the first luxury house fashion store in Harlem. As of May 2019, Gucci released a limited edition of Dapper Dan’s Harlem. Gucci Garden Gallery in Florence references Dapper Dan and the infamous jacket.

Dapper Dan is now a board member for reviewing applications for the Gucci Changemakers North America Scholarship program.

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