Biography on hip hop clothing

Don’t let anyone tell you differently. When it comes down to 80s and 90s Hip Hop, Harlem native Dapper Dan is the originator of luxury streetwear.

His efforts transformed hustler flash and b-boy styling into the most coveted and influential apparel — designs that for the last forty years have influenced high fashion and European runways.

Born on Aug.

8, 1944, Daniel Day grew up seeing old Harlem, where people got dressed to go to Club Baby Grand on 125 or the Savoy on Lenox Ave. Bumpy Johnson walked through the streets, bumping into Malcolm X or laughing it up with A’Lelia Walker.

More than cultural currency, which has made for fantastic urban legend, these are the types of icons that had a direct influence on his understanding of style.

In an interview with The Guardian, he shares, “Even though we had a class that was capable of moving out [of Harlem], segregation wouldn’t allow that.

That’s why the Harlem renaissance – all these dynamic writers and poets – they were there