“We was buying so many, they didn’t know what was going on.” Salt-N-Pepa wore Dapper Dan’s creations in the 1980s.
“I went back down to the Gucci store and bought every single canvas print garment bag they had in stock,” Day writes. After a client wore it to a party, everyone wanted one. His first prototype was a jacket trimmed with branded Gucci garment bags. He started creating clothes covered in luxe logos after seeing the commotion a drug dealer’s girlfriend and her Louis Vuitton clutch caused. He opened Dapper Dan’s Boutique on 125th Street in 1982, initially selling furs to the lords of the underworld. “I began to think, ‘Someone could fill that void.’ ” Harlem had only had one custom shop, and it had closed years ago. “I’d never met a black person who could do what did,” Day writes. In Liberia, he went to a tailor to have a suit made from scratch. Then, a 1974 trip to Africa - to see the famed Muhammad Ali-George Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” match - changed his life. He was arrested in his early 20s for dealing, and, after getting clean, continued to “hustle,” playing craps and dabbling in credit-card fraud. (He earned the nickname Dapper Dan from a stylish elder gambler.) By the time he entered high school, Day’s older brothers were already deep in heroin, and Day got into drugs, too. When he was 13, Day began playing dice, racking up thousands of dollars a day from outsmarting flush drug dealers. Dapper Dan’s influence is everywhere, from Balenciaga’s oversize fur-lined leather coats to Louis Vuitton’s flashy “LV” belt buckles.ĭay traces his evolution from fashion outlaw to oracle in a candid new memoir, “ Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem,” (Penguin Random House) out Tuesday.īorn in 1944 in an East Harlem tenement, Day writes that his family was “poor as hell.” His father worked three jobs to support Day and his six siblings, and Day was “always hungry,” with sore feet from walking around with holes in his shoes.
Now, 27 years later, luxe labels, including Louis Vuitton, who sought to shut him down, are copying him. His Harlem boutique drew gangsters, athletes and hip-hop stars, from Mike Tyson to Salt-N-Pepa - until it was raided for trademark infringement in 1992. Here are 10 of our favourite looks.In the 1980s, Daniel Day, better known as Dapper Dan, made a name for himself selling leather jackets and tracksuits emblazoned with bootleg Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Fendi logos. Open around the clock, the store was packed wall to wall with rolls of imitation monogram prints imported from Korea – ready to be transformed into anything you wanted.įrom Eric B and Rakim’s custom Gucci coats for the cover of ‘Follow the Leader’, to Salt-n-Pepa’s ‘Push It’ jackets – Dan’s creations are an unforgettable part of hip-hop history. Commissioned by hip-hop royalty and uptown’s finest, DD is a master of appropriation and maximalism – turning Gucci, Fendi, MCM and Louis Vuitton prints into custom made tracksuits, jumpsuits, jackets and even upholstery.įrom 1982 until its closure in 1992 following legal action, Dan’s 125 th street boutique was frequented by the likes of Run DMC, LL Cool J, Bobby Brown and Salt-n-Pepa – all in search of the flyest gear. Way before street wear and bootlegging became high fashion, Dapper Dan was creating a sensation in NYC with his bespoke logo printed looks.
Egendary Harlem tailor Dapper Dan is back in the headlines this week, following the news that he is re-opening his Harlem atelier in partnership with Gucci.
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