Fashion/Cultural Icon Dapper Dan Launches New Book at Brooklyn Academy of Music

 

Unbound, a book launch series with BAM and Greenlight Bookstore presents Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem, a candid chronicle of the Harlem designer's life, spanning more than 70 years and set against the backdrop of an ever-evolving America. Unbound: Dapper Dan will take place on July 10 at 7pm in the BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave).

With his now-legendary store on 125th Street in Harlem, Dapper Dan pioneered high-end streetwear in the 1980s, remixing classic luxury-brand logos into his own innovative, glamorous designs. The self-taught tailor dressed cultural icons including Eric B. and Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, Mike Tyson, Alpo Martinez, LL Cool J, Jam Master Jay, Diddy, Naomi Campbell, and Jay-Z. But before he reinvented haute couture, he was a hungry boy with holes in his shoes, a teen who daringly gambled drug dealers out of their money, and a young man in a prison cell who found nourishment in books. Today Dapper Dan has emerged as a world-famous designer who broke racial and economic barriers to outfit some of the biggest names in music, sports, and culture, in looks that went on to define an era.

Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem is both a testament to the legendary designer's creativity and industry-changing hustle, as well as a historical record of Harlem's evolution from the perspective of the man who was on the ground floor for it all.

Dapper Dan, born Daniel Day, has had his work displayed at the Smithsonian Institution, Museum at FIT, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of the City of New York, and London's Design Museum. His eponymous boutique was open from 1982 to 1992 and reopened in 2017 in a major partnership with Gucci, for which he also served as the face of their fall campaign.

BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave)
Jul 10 at 7pm
$20 (event only); $40 (with book)
Tickets on sale Jun 14 (Jun 11 for BAM Members and Patrons)

Photo Credit: Renell Medrano

 

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