What started out as a controversy has now reached a rather amicable conclusion!
Four months after one of Harlem-based couturier Dapper Dan’s former design pieces bore a stark resemblance to one of Gucci’s jackets that debuted in May, the fashion house announced Dan to be the face of its men’s tailoring campaign for this year, stating Gucci would help him open a new studio in Harlem. The collaboration would be done keeping the theme in mind, “Made in Italy meets Made in Harlem and the 1980s meets 2018”, according to a release by the brand.
In the 80s, Daniel Day or more famously known Dapper Dan was the first to introduce designer fashion into the street culture context.
Dan produced bespoke pieces fashioned out of rolls of fake fabrics, trims and prints belonging to top fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Fendi, and sold them for thousands of dollars per piece to the then-upcoming Hip Hop clique.
In those days, Dan was referred to as “Hip Hop’s fashion godfather” who “planted the seed for fashion” in the music genre, and boasted of a client list that included everyone from Harlem hustlers to the likes of Run DMC, Mike Tyson, Salt and Pepa, LL Cool J and Bobby Brown, who would spend hours at his store, which stayed always open for nights and days in those solid 8 years.
Litigation filed by luxury brands for knocking off their merchandise in the 90s sadly compelled Dan to shutter his overwhelming business boutique. Fast forward 25 years in this context and we have come full circle.
Gucci sent a fur-lined piece featuring balloon sleeves down its ramp this past May, which instantly gained heat on social media as bearing a stark resemblance to a jacket Dan had designed in the 80’s for Olympic sprinter Diane Dixon. The original sleeves had the Louis Vuitton logo emblazoned across, without prior permission from the brand.
Gucci was quick to acknowledge this move as a homage to Dapper Dan and further reached out to him with a collaboration request. Four months after, Dan and Gucci concluded to work cordially as they opened a new studio in partnership in Harlem. On this, Dan said that nothing had been as significant in the Harlem cultural scene than Alessandro and Gucci coming here and partnering with the man himself.
Spread across 4,700 square-feet, the atelier is located on Lenox Avenue and shares both Dapper Dan and Gucci’s Creative Director Alessandro Michele’s respective aesthetics.
The new studio features luxe red boiserie wall panels and a white decorative tin ceiling on the ground level, leather and wood furnishings in each room, European vintage furniture and accessories and Persian rugs within the salon space.
Intricate decorative details such as crown mouldings, millwork and pocket doors that date back to designer A.B. Van Dusen, (who also designed the location for Edward Roberts in 1887) have been left intact. The studio also features archival photos that reflect on Dan’s history and his relevance to fashion and culture that had declared him the mogul who combined designer fashion and street culture with such finesse.
