Welcome to the show.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to have you here because I remember
the first time I heard your name was in a rap song.
I remember rappers would rap
about being laced up by Dapper Dan.
You know, people would talk about these threads
from Dapper Dan. Styled by Dapper Dan.
It was an idea, and it was a myth.
And now when people see you today, they go, "The suits."
They see you dressing people at the Met Gala.
They think, "Oh, yeah, this man's a fashion designer."
But you didn't start in the most normal place.
You-you started making something out of nothing
-as a hustler. -Yes.
Exactly.
I started with nothing.
I was, like, um...
You would probably say...
You was born a crime.
I was born in crime.
-(laughs) -Wow. Right.
Yeah, and, so, I had to... I had to adjust to life,
so I used the tools that was available to me.
When I wanted to open up a store,
nobody would sell to me, so I said, "You know what?
"I'm-a figure out how to do this myself.
"I'm-a learn how to make fabric
"and do everything that the big boys do
and do it better than they do it."
-(cheering and applause) -You really...
Yeah, man, you really...
You really did something
that I don't think anybody thinks is possible.
I don't think anyone has achieved
in-in the same way that you've done.
For those who don't know, you know those,
like, very fancy, um, Fendi, you know, outfits that you see?
You know all these designer clothes where you see, like,
all the labels everywhere on it?
Like, "Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton,"
or, "Fendi, Fendi, Fendi, Fendi, Fendi, Fendi, Fendi"?
That was... that was him.
So, a lot of people don't know this about Dapper Dan,
but you came along, and you created,
like, a street version
of what these high-end brands were creating.
You made your own version of Gucci,
your own version of Fendi,
your own version of all of these brands,
which became bigger than the brands
for many black people.
Yeah, you know what I did? I, um...
What they call me is the father of logo-mania.
I looked at the brand, I looked at the-the print.
I say, "Wow, everybody's excited about the logo."
But Gucci is not making jackets.
Fendi is not making jackets.
-Right. -Neither of these guys are making jackets and outfits.
I said, "Wow. Well, if they excited with the bag,
imagine if I can make them look like the luggage."
(laughter)
(applause)
But you-you know what's cool about the book
is you tell the story of how...
Here's this man. Played dice.
-You know, hustling in the streets. -Yeah.
-Yeah. -You start working in fashion.
You go, "I'm gonna dress people in Gucci
"the way I think they want to be dressed in Gucci,
they want to be dressed in Fendi."
And then the fashion houses came after you.
They sued and shut you down,
and then they went and stole the designs
that you made for the people in the streets.
That's an interesting space to be in.
Yeah, when you consider this.
Like, I wasn't doing knockoffs.
I did knockups. I made the brand better.
(laughter)
-(cheering and applause) -Right.
-Yeah. -What did you think... what did you think
the first time you saw your designs on a runway?
I wanted to run up and just snatch it off,
um, and say, "This is mine."
You know, but social media wasn't out when I first saw
-that the-the big brands was doing it, you know? -Right.
I say, "Wow, look at this."
The-the only thing I thought would ever happen
is that, one day, somebody would figure it out,
"Well, that came from Dapper Dan."
But the day came sooner than I thought.
The day did come sooner than you thought.
Because what's interesting is-- and I didn't know this from--
you know, I learned this from the book--
is you initially started off helping rappers out.
'Cause when you-- when you gave rappers clothing,
rap wasn't big.
It sure wasn't, 'cause they still owe me money.
(laughing)
And so-- And I talk about it in the book.
-Yeah. -And so you-you dressed everybody from LL Cool J
and, you know, uh, Jam Master Jay.
And you dressed, um, Salt-N-Pepa.
That infamous look, that was all you.
And-and that became--
-yeah, that became the style, you know? -Yes.
And then the rappers turned around
and they made Dapper Dan a name when they became big,
-which was a beautiful circle of life there. -Yes, it sure is.
You know, and I think the most exciting person to come through
who even rose above the rappers was Mike Tyson.
And that was the big thing.
When Mike Tyson came in there and had the big fight
-with Mitch Green inside my store -Yeah.
and outside my store, listen,
the brands said, "Well, what the the heck is a Dapper Dan?"
And then the whole world caved in.
-The whole world has caved in. -Mm-hmm.
You have now gotten to a place where you're no longer seen
-as an outsider but rather a trendsetter. -Yes.
You work with these fashion houses.
-Yes. -They've teamed up with you. For instance,
you work with Gucci now, where they've said,
"Dapper Dan, we want to create with you."
-Yes. -In fact, you were part of the conversation when Gucci had,
um, that incident where they came out with those designs
where people-- uh, there was backlash on social media.
-Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. -You-you teamed--
Why-why did you team up with them? Why did you--
why did you work with Gucci when many people were saying boycott?
Well, you know, I did-- I did a lot of research
even before I got into the partnership.
And I researched, like, Alessandro, the lead designer.
And I researched Marco, the, uh, CEO.
-Yeah. -A-And I know these men were genuine.
So I say, "What happened?" I say, "Well, your--"
I don't know what happened. You know, if you shoot a guy
-by accident, you shoot him on purpose, he's dead. -Right.
So I told 'em, "You have to come--
you have to come to Harlem, and we-we got to fix this."
You got to explain to people what they did. And they came.
You know? And so now we have the Changemaker program,
whereby Gucci's gonna be putting money into different programs.
We gonna have inclusivity.
-We got vice presidents now. -Right.
And so it's a big program. It's the Changemakers program.
So we gonna make a change.
And, actually, what we're starting here with Gucci,
we need to move that on to other brands.
'Cause that was a big thing people complained about.
They said the reason brands keep making these mistakes
is because they have no people of color
-working on their staffs. -Exactly, exactly.
And you came in and said, "Gucci, we need to change this.
Instead of an apology, I want to see a change."
Exactly. That's exactly it.
-And we need to take that change to every brand. -Right.
What do you think-- what do you think you want to see changed
in the future in fashion
now that Dapper Dan has a name and clout?
What I really would like to see is that,
you know, culture is what moves fashion.
-And, you know, this hip-hop culture went global. -Right.
So if the culture can go global,
why can't the representatives of the culture go global as well?
So that's what I advocate for.
I advocate for more people
who make a contribution to the culture
that enables these brands to make money
-to be inclusive to their brand. -Right.
Make that money, man.
It's an exciting book, an amazing life.
-Thank you so much for being on the show. -Thank you.
Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem is available now.
Dapper Dan, everybody.