Sep 22, 2020

Dapper Dan

by

Missy Elliott

Portrait of Harlem fashion designer Dapper Dan.

Portrait of Harlem fashion designer Dapper Dan.Kevin Trageser—Redux

Dapper Dan is the blueprint for our culture in hip-hop. He defined fashion in “the hood” and in celebrity culture. According to him, dapper no longer belonged just to Wall Street and business professionals; Dan claimed the term for the Black community. The first outfits of his that I remember were on the cover of Eric B. and Rakim’s album Paid in Full—they were refreshing, a blend of hood and expensive. Then I began to see iconic looks from his creative mind on artists such as Big Daddy Kane and Salt-N-Pepa, and even on boxers like Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.

I realized in watching Dan how truly inspiring he was—he never stopped working and always remained diligent to his craft. His influence extends far past his defining style; he opened the first couture atelier ever in Harlem and stood up to racial discrimination in the fashion industry. Now, he has a groundbreaking collaboration collection with Gucci. With so many years in the game, he remains a culture leader, but he has stayed true to himself, and that will never go out of style.

Elliott is a Grammy Award-winning singer and producer

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