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Diversity & Inclusion in the Fashion Industry
Legendary haberdasher DAPPER DAN has led the way for representation in the fashion industry, breaking barriers with his bold design and celebrating cultural fusion. In this bold discussion, Dapper Dan provides the roadmap to furthering his legacy of progress in fashion.
Fashion Design & Fashion Technology
A pioneer of high-end streetwear, DAPPER DAN’s innovative use of fashion design and technology reshaped the industry. By redefining streetwear as luxury, Dapper Dan inspired a new generation of designers. In this enlightening conversation, Dapper Dan shares how it feels to have shaped contemporary fashion and where he sees the industry going from here.
Hip Hop Culture
The man who connected luxury fashion with hip-hop culture, DAPPER DAN, shares the creative inflection point between two distinct subcultures. With influence felt worldwide, Dapper Dan leads the conversation on shaping trends and challenging conventions while providing a brief overview of hip-hop’s deep, rich history.
African-American Culture & History
Through his iconic designs and entrepreneurial acumen, DAPPER DAN honors the richness and resilience of African-American culture and history. This brilliant reinventor of haute couture introduces audiences to the flourishing creativity, exceptionality, and tenacity of African American communities.
Harlem History & Culture
A beloved son of Harlem, global fashion icon DAPPER DAN represents the rich culture of New York’s historic neighborhood. With his legacy intertwined with the area’s vibrant history and visual culture, Dapper Dan shares the inspiration he’s found while representing Harlem’s creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
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Dapper Dan invented the Met Gala 2025 theme
Beloved haberdasher, tailor, and global fashion icon DAPPER DAN (a.k.a. “Harlem’s Dandy”) is a pioneer of Black Americana style. The 2025 Met Gala theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” by leaning into dandyism, will draw heavily on the aesthetic precedents set by Dapper Dan’s fashion career, as referenced by Harper’s Bazaar, Mashable, and Grazia magazines.
Bringing Dapper Dan to your organization will be an unforgettable engagement. From a short reading from his memoir, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem, to reflections on what this Met Gala theme means to him, Dapper Dan’s star power will light up your audience.
Event Success Story: Dapper Dan and Fawn Weaver inspire at THINK BOLD Festival & Conference
Legendary entrepreneur and global fashion icon DAPPER DAN and Founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest Whiskey FAWN WEAVER shared their groundbreaking perspectives in an inspiring presentation at Dare to Dream, Dare to Innovate: The Think Bold Festival & Conference. Sharing key insights about leadership, building a values-driven brand, success principles across industries, and empowering insights into perseverance and innovation, Dapper Dan and Weaver represented the epitome of innovation, creativity, and bold thinking. Conference organizers at Generation Media Group shared, “Their fireside chats were not only amazing and inspiring but also deeply resonant with all our attendees. The kindness they showed by engaging with individuals, taking pictures before and after the talks, truly elevated the experience.”
Watch Dapper Dan speak at the Enoch Prat Free Library >>
Watch Fawn Weaver in discussion with Potential to Powerhouse >>
Dapper Dan leads an enlightening exploration of fashion history at the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s Brown Lectures series
New York Times bestselling author and global fashion icon DAPPER DAN educated communities through his Brown Lecture at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Graciously participating in a meet and greet with students of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and community members, Dapper Dan provided amazing insight into the potential for diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry, the impact of African American and Black culture on the history of fashion, and his memoir, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem. The Enoch Pratt Free Library’s event planner was delighted, telling us, “Dapper Dan was EXCELLENT...! There were comments about the event being a master class.”
Legendary designer Dapper Dan honored with CFDA’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Harlem native DAPPER DAN has been making his mark on the fashion industry as a visionary for decades, from his trailblazing and era-defining streetwear to his collaboration collection with Gucci, and now he’s made history again. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) honored Dapper Dan with the Geoffrey Beane Lifetime Achievement Award, making him the first Black designer to receive this accolade. He is also the first couturier to be celebrated with this career honor who has never done a solo fashion show. Speaking to the historic win on Instagram, Dapper Dan: “The streets of Harlem have been my runway for 35 years. Isn’t that where the major luxury brands got their inspiration from?” He went on, “Thank you Harlem, I love you! Thank you to the CFDA for making me the first black designer to win this lifetime achievement award. Harnessing the Dapper Dan brand to Gucci, mounted it on a global track, now the whole world knows what Harlem always knew, that the Dapper Dan brand is a thoroughbred brand.” Dapper Dan is a crucial voice in the fashion industry and beyond, speaking to culture creation, innovation, and how being inspired by your own community can change the world.
Fashion icon Dapper Dan is one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People
Fashion icon DAPPER DAN was honored by TIME as one of the Most Influential People of 2020. In her essay explaining why he is a visionary trailblazer, Missy Elliott writes:
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.
With his eponymous store on 125th Street, Dapper Dan pioneered streetwear in the early 1980s, co-opting luxury branding to design original garments with high-end detail. Known for using exquisite leathers, furs, and other fine materials, he first drew powerful New York City hustlers as clientele, who all came due to his strong street reputation as a legendary professional gambler and dandy. He then went on to outfit entertainers and other celebrities, including Eric B. & Rakim, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Mike Tyson, Missy Elliott, JAY-Z, Beyonce, Aaliyah, P. Diddy, Floyd Mayweather, and many more. Dapper Dan has been featured on platforms including The New York Times, Elle, Vogue, W, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, CNN, and Netflix. His works have been on display at The Smithsonian, The Museum at FIT, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art. Dapper Dan’s boutique reopened in 2017 in a major partnership with Gucci. His memoir, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem is a New York Times Bestseller, and is now being developed into a premium drama series and a documentary series. Dapper Dan has been honored with the Council of Fashion Designers of America's (CFDA) Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award- the first designer to win the award without ever staging a solo fashion show.
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