![]() ![]() He received his “Dapper” nickname as his popularity grew in the streets of Harlem. He eventually got involved in the gambling scene, drug trafficking, and gaining a reputation as a neighborhood dandy. This sentiment sewed a seed in Dan that led him to a lifetime of research and refinement.ĭan always believed a man should be well-dressed. Dapper Dan read in that report a phrase that he remembers as “urban renewal, negro removal.” That report was the blueprint for gentrification embarking on Harlem. Adolescent LessonsĪt 14 years old, he got introduced to gentrification by a report from the second ‘Black’ Borough President, Constance Baker Motley. So, from them, I learned all the street skills I had,” Dan recalls. The hustlers - the people in the streets - were most impressive. It was this current that took Dan through the impoverished streets of Harlem as an adolescent. Always cautious, he and his friends would toss a Popsicle stick into the flowing river to figure out how strong the current was before jumping in. ![]() Growing up with holes in his shoes, Dan spent summers by the Harlem River, where he would swim with best friends who were Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican, and Black. Now we have the community of Harlem where it’s more diverse and people don’t say ‘hi.’ Harlem used to be like an African village,” Dan explains. There’s a difference - a village is more cohesive, people are more united. “Harlem in the 50s was a village, today it’s a community. ![]() Harlem consisted of the majority of poor Blacks, Italians, Irish, and Puerto Ricans, who all lived scattered throughout the community. Growing up in the East Harlem neighborhood in the 1950s served a more diverse residential but poor class of people. His mother moved from South Carolina and his Dad from Virginia, and Dan was born a first-generation Harlem-American as Daniel Day. Migrating Through Harlemĭapper Dan is a product of the Great Migration from the South. He is a symbol of Black entrepreneurship and culture for the fashion world and communities like Harlem. A life once lived by Dapper Dan can only be accredited to the man we are familiar with today. This karma has come back around, stitching a Gucci Atelier collaborative business deal in 2017. Raids and confiscation by law enforcement of his illustrious garments would shut down his retail business regularly, but not his spirit. But the karma Dan has always been cautious of would slow his business repeatedly. It was good business - and he got it, opening his boutique in 1982. But over time, young Black celebrities and athletes, like Mike Tyson, and New York City’s entertainers, like LL Cool J and Rakim, became his clients. ![]() In the 1980s, his first wave of customers were hustlers and local drug dealers. Standing in front of the brownstone he built with the help of Gucci, he greets the neighborhood passers-by as if he were running for political office.ĭapper Dan is known for his logo design and textile printing, which he fabricated himself to resemble high-end European fashion houses, like Louis Vuitton, Fendi, MCM, and Gucci. He is a sight to see, “Dap,” as close friends call him, absorbing the aura of the Harlem community, in a tailor-made suit, equipped with a standard N95 facemask. ![]()
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