Dapper Dan Talks 50 Years of Hip-hop, Kanye West Controversy and Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton
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NEW YORK — Dapper Dan joined LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Thursday night for the company’s fireside chat celebrating Black History Month and the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, taking the stage alongside TV personality Rocsi Diaz at Marc Jacobs’ Madison Avenue flagship.
The fashion designer touched on an array of topics during the conversation, including his thoughts on Kanye West’s controversial comments and Pharrell Williams’ appointment as creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, as well as his own career and the legacy of hip-hop.
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Dapper Dan started the conversation by reflecting on his early years dressing hip-hop stars in his Harlem boutique, stating that he would work closely with the artists to understand the meaning behind their lyrics and the message they were conveying to incorporate that into their looks. That’s something he thinks hip-hop artists have stayed true to through the five decades of the music genre.
“I like where [hip-hop] is going now,” he said. “I like what the major artists are doing because they are working with the stylists, so it’s like a throwback to when I started. I like some of the things that the artists are doing now when they have a theme and they play behind the theme. To me, that embraces and pushes the culture, so that’s an important part for me — being who you say you are.”
As staying true to his self has been a core part of Dapper Dan’s career and persona since he came onto the scene in the ‘70s, Diaz questioned the designer on whether he’s declined to work with clients who he doesn’t feel aligned with.
“The most trying time for me was when hip-hop moved to California and we started getting gangster rap,” he said. “If you look back on these 40 years, you never see anything that I’ve done that reflected gangster rap or gangster culture. I had to have integrity. I paid close attention to where the culture was going because there is a light side of the culture and a dark side of the culture. My obligation in the position that I’m in is to enhance the light side of the culture.”
The topic of integrity brought on a discussion of standing up for what you believe in. Dapper Dan named several figures he believes are currently doing that, such as Colin Kaepernick, Kyrie Irving and Kanye West, the latter of whom was embroiled in controversy last year after spewing many racist and antisemitic remarks. (Irving was also under fire last fall for promoting an antisemitic movie and providing a delayed apology for this actions).
When asked about his remarks on West, Dapper Dan clarified: “I think there’s a lot of confusion with a lot of the information coming from Kanye. Now, some of the things he said I totally don’t agree with, but there’s glimpses of what he says that are true. One of the things that I don’t think people understand about Kanye is that with all of his money, he couldn’t launch a brand successfully. A lot of people couldn’t understand why that is. They tell designers all the time, ‘why don’t you get your own brand?’ as if we can go put it in the toaster and pop it out. It’s not like that. Kanye tried to point that out to people. He just couldn’t articulate it right. There are certain messages that Kanye had that made sense, but there’s the other side to it.”
During the audience question-and-answer portion of the chat, Dapper Dan was asked about influential designers in hip-hop he thinks have gone under the radar and he named Pyer Moss designer Kerby Jean-Raymond as one with a “heartbreaking story.“
“Sometimes it’s more important to find out why people fail than why they succeed,” Dapper Dan said. “When you look back at all of those brands in the ‘90s that came about, all of those brands from people of color, they collapsed. We need to find out why they collapsed so we can take charge of the culture and move ahead.”
Dapper Dan concluded the talk by being asked his thoughts on Pharrell Williams’ recent appointment as creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton.
“Pharrell as a human being is amazing,” he said. “In terms of culture, he’s both sides of the coin. You’ll always hear me say that one side of the coin is fashion and the other side is music. Pharrell is both sides of that coin.”
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