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In my experience, style is dictated by strength, strength in the community. Do you find that to be true in your experience?

It's always like a celebrity person that has some connection to some street guy, and he walks into the studio or he's behind set at the movie, and they're like, “Oh, what are you wearing? Where'd you get that jacket from?” Or, “What are those sneakers?” Then it becomes a thing. Many people think that style comes from celebrities, but I always felt like the trends come from the street. Our culture's probably the youngest culture that you might find in the Americas.

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When I look at hip hop music, when I look at the music and our contribution to America, I see a new culture, a culture that basically didn't even start, and didn't free itself up in any sense until Emancipation Proclamation. Culture is where we started off and where we are now. It's what we had to rebuild here in America. Culture is who we are, the sum total of us. What does culture mean to you?Ĭulture is something that I had to study deeply to make sense out of. You’re one of those cultural icons here, the great Mr. We see people cling to culture all the time, but every once in a while, we get a person who pushes culture forward and creates something that's going to outlast everything. Watch my 'Salon Talks' interview with Dapper Dan here, or read our conversation below. I had the chance to address many parts of Dapper Dan’s life, along with the importance of hard work, the pain it generates, and the power sharing those experiences when I sat down with him in Salon's studio to talk about his new memoir, “ Dapper Dan: Made In Harlem.' People also don’t know that Dapper Dan’s shop closed because of raids ordered by the major fashion houses, that he was shot in the neck in front of his store, and that he went broke after experiencing all of that only success- only to rebuild his company from the ground up and orchestrate a historic partnership with Gucci. People know about the celebs wearing his fashions, but they don’t know that those celebs were copying street trends from famous gangsters.

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What most people don’t know is that he bought the boutique with money he earned from being a professional gambler. But what’s on the other side of those likes? What did Dapper Dan have to overcome? If social media was out at that time, he probably would’ve averaged 5,000 likes per picture, just like your friend from high school. Most people know Dapper Dan from his legendary store on 125th Street in Harlem where he pioneered high-end streetwear in the 1980s, remaking classic luxury-brand logos into his own innovative designs for a host of celebrities including Mike Tyson, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Peppa and Jay-Z, to name few. No one knows this more than Harlem legend and fashion icon Dapper Dan. We are so used to seeing wins - or what looks like winning - that we tend to forgot the hard work that success really takes or that hardships will happen. That’s a major problem with today’s society. You never see them have a bad day, share bad news or connect with anything regular.

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And we do enjoy how they only eat the most delicious meals off of perfectly staged plates next to artfully foamed lattes, or when they perfectly zip line through scenic views on their monthly trips to the islands where they are celebrated by the locals, as if they are in position to become their new leader. We all have that one high school friend with the perfect Instagram that they masterfully curate for us to enjoy. Everybody wins all of the time, or at least that’s what social media in our current culture wants you to think.

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