Dapper Dan: Brick-and-Mortar Could Be the Next Frontier for Black Designers

Meghan Hall
·4 min read
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Renowned designer Dapper Dan’s latest collection with Gap—a 22-piece, symbolism-filled capsule—officially launched Feb. 9.

To celebrate the launch, Gap, Dapper Dan and men’s wear label The Brooklyn Circus hosted a preview and discussion at Brooklyn’s Soho Works Thursday.

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Dapper Dan spoke on a panel with Gap’s Greggy Amisial, a senior manager, and Ouigi Theodore, founder of The Brooklyn Circus. The three reflected on Black culture, discussed music’s influence on fashion and art and Theodore and Dapper Dan’s legendary careers to date.

Harmonizing music and fashion

Dapper Dan said some of his early inspiration for design and fashion came from studying music’s influence on clothing and accessories. He said he watched his brothers and cousins, who grew up during the time when jazz captivated the nation, emanate jazz artists with their style. Not long after, Dapper Dan grew up alongside the Afro-Cuban music age, watching his peers aspire to the fashion that came along with it.

By the time hip hop made its way to the forefront of culture, he said, the Harlem native already understood how much influence music can have on global fashion.

“I had already been doing my studying for the association between fashion and music, so I knew that the rappers wanted to look like the gangsters, and the gangsters was imitating the jazz musicians,” he said. “All the music that was evolving…was embedded in the culture, so I just kept following the line, so I was ready for it when it came.”

Dapper Dan’s influence on the hip hop world has been far reaching; he has styled clients like LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa and Jay-Z and triggered a broader interest in the correlation between culture and clothing.

Symbolism

Dapper Dan’s understanding of symbolism is complex and multifaceted. On one hand, he understands that clothing can transform someone into a completely different individual.

From his days spent growing up in what he called “the poorest neighborhood in Harlem,” he learned that wearing certain clothes or shoes could make him feel like a different person—and that they had the same effect on others.

“If you dressed up and you got clothes, nobody know how poor you are, so that’s what made the big transition,” he said. “That’s why I always look forward to getting dressed; in one instant, you can just take an outfit and be somebody else. That’s why fashion made such a big impact on me.”

As part of his collections with Gap, the designer has worked to transform symbols of darkness into beacons of light. When the Gap approached him and told him they wanted to use his name on the company’s iconic hoodie, Dapper Dan said, “The first thing that flashed in my mind was Trayvon Martin.”

With the hoodies in his five collections with Gap, he wanted to destigmatize how the country thought about Black people, he said.

But beyond the figurative symbolism affecting both him and his work through different stages of life, Dapper Dan has also used literal symbols to capture consumers’ admirations.

Much of his work features logos and symbols—he’s thought of as one of the pioneers of logomania. He said much of the influence symbols have had on his clothes have come from his observations and understanding of religion, African culture and art.

“When I joined with the brands, I said…’How can I put something in the Gap, a symbol that people who are cultured and refined, wanting the design, will gravitate toward?'” Dapper Dan noted.

Black designers in brick-and-mortar spaces

Theodore and Dapper Dan agreed that Black designers should work to increase their prominence in brick-and-mortar locations. That, they said, would make their work more visible to a broader array of potential buyers.

“Everybody’s running around talking about, ‘We need to sell to each other, to Black people.’ No, we need to sell to the world,” Dapper Dan said. “We have to first align ourselves with those global brands until we get strong enough to be global within ourselves.”

He went on to explain that some of the best learnings in his career have come from in-store activations with global companies like Gucci and Gap. At the rate that technology has been evolving, he said, the best way to keep up is to stay in consumers’ lines of sight.

Theodore and Amisial drew attention to the fact that the crowd could name very few Black designers with their own mass-market storefronts. Dapper Dan said part of his goal in going global has been to share the knowledge he gains with younger Black designers for their future success.

“I was national; now the Gap has taken me global. Now, with a platform like that, we can grow—not only that, the wealth of information on knowing what it is to be global, I can pass that on,” he said.