Harlem World: Dapper Dan


Harlem New York City has always been known for their very vibrant and flashy fashion sense, birthing some of hip hops top trendsetters, from A$AP Rocky to Killa Cam. Meet one of the pioneers of Harlem’s fashion, the legendary Dapper Dan who took some of the worlds most luxurious high-end brands pieces and customized them for some of the biggest hustlers and hip hop acts in the 1980′s. Dapper Dan urbanized pieces from brands like MCM, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, making his own renditions of pieces that each of the brands would have never thought of making.Dan specialized in jacket customization, taking popular prints from high-end  brands and turning them into his own. He’d even gotten into interior design, where he could deck whole houses and car’s out with high-end print. Ultimately, using lots of brands prints and designs landed Dapper Dan numerous lawsuits and into some trouble, but he is responsible for a whole fashion culture in Harlem.In the video above, watch as Dapper Dan walks us through his journey, from a poor kid from Harlem to one of the biggest fashion innovators the city has ever seen. Check out images of some of Dapper Dans work below.

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