Dapper Dan recently had a lot to say in regard to Black Twitter.
Gucci reportedly took Dapper Dan’s design: Back in 2017, Black Twitter rallied behind the Harlem-born fashion designer when a knock-off version of his Louis Vuitton design was used for Gucci’s 2018 Cruise collection.
Take a look for yourself: A side by side comparison can be found here:
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Learning Lesson: Although many were upset by Gucci’s actions, Dapper Dan saw it as an opportunity. To ensure this would not be a reoccurring incident, he thought the best thing to do would be to continue opening doors to position more Black designers.
Change starts within: Dapper Dan was hopeful in this quest, but he realized the Black community had its own plans for how they wanted to deal with luxury fashion. Instead, they wanted to take their dollars elsewhere, which Dapper Dan argues against. He believes true change starts by working from the inside out to improve the infrastructure and leverage the influence of the Black community.
Call to action: “We are 95 percent of the influence [of] the people in the world who wanna look like us and dress like us and walk and talk like us. You know? So it’s the influences that make the difference. Okay? So, I said let’s take advantage of this moment. Let’s get inside so we can do this ourselves,” Dapper Dan told the Earn Your Leisure podcast.
He continued: “Everybody in here and all the people of color need to ask themselves, are we gonna be inside and change things or we gonna walk away every time somebody disrespect us? That’s what you gotta ask yourself. And my answer is, let’s get inside and change this.”
