modern luxury is BLACK •oyinlolaol a w walolniyo•eyo o y e

F18 rom Gucci to Louis Vuitton to Fendi, two letters can reveal a lot about a person. If everyone could afford Dior, it would be a commodity and not a luxury. Every brand has a demographic, and Black people were never meant to be the demographic of any high fashion brand upon its founding. The fashion world commends the late pioneer Coco Chanel for her brilliance and vision. Coco Chanel was a Nazi informant. I don’t think she envisioned any type of inclusivity for Chanel. My condolences to Coco, because modern luxury has been revolutionized starting with one Black man.

The status that comes with luxury fashion was not accessible to Black people until Dapper Dan’s boutique opened in Harlem around 40 years ago (The Guardian). Dapper Dan laid the foundation for the new era of luxury fashion. At the time, luxury fashion houses were only putting their logos on accessories and leather goods. Taking the logos from these brands, he created his own textiles which were of even higher quality than the originals. He then used his textiles to make bomber jackets, track suits, baseball caps, and so on.

Prior to his boutique, Dapper Dan studied the Pan-African movement and toured Africa with a program through Columbia University. He spent time with many African designers and ateliers. In Africa, they were focused on recreating things worn by the people who colonized their land. Thus, it was here on this revolutionary continent that Dapper Dan found his vision, the “Africanization” of European brands. He returned to the US and sold clothing and accessories from the trunk of his car until he could open up his own business.

With his boutique, Dapper Dan’s main goal was to “Blackenize” high fashion, and he did just that. Dapper Dan’s clientele mostly consisted of drug dealers, hip hop artists, and gang members. When the girlfriend of a drug dealer entered his store wearing a Louis Vuitton bag. While watching the heads turn, and the jaws drop, Dapper Dan found his opening. The individuals that made up his clientele all had one thing in common – their entire lives were built around getting money. Yet, they did not and could not look the part because they were ignored by luxury fashion. His designs and styles are synonymous with the beginning of hip-hop and the fashion that goes alongside it.

One of Dapper Dan’s most notable pieces is a reversible Louis Vuitton bomber jacket. One side featured mink fur, and the otherside featured logo-mania. While this piece represents Dapper Dan’s journey from furs to logos, it also represents the gap he bridged between luxury fashion and the Black community. Eventually, Dapper Dan was forced out of business due to copyright infringement. and released a line of accessories and garments. Dapper Dan was only recognized by the fashion industry when his work became in style. When he was making it happen from a boutique in Harlem, they wanted nothing to do with him. who does not look like you compliments it, tell them to give you credit in advance because you just inspired their next look.

Now don’t get it twisted –Dapper Dan did not create knock-offs. He created “knock-ups” that were more subversive than Fendi or Gucci. After his business was ran into the ground due to law suits and legal fees inflicted by luxury houses who he imitated, his vision was stolen. In 2017, Gucci put a mink jacket with puffsleeves and logo-mania on the runway. The piece held a close comparison to Dapper Dan’s trademark reversible jacket. While he was clearly the inspiration for this piece, his work was culturally appropriated. He was not given any credit as the original creator, until 2018 when Gucci announced a collaboration with Dapper Dan. After they ruined his livelihood, Gucci reopened his boutique as an atelier,

In the fashion world, Dapper Dan is a forgotten icon. He influenced a new wave of fashion and designers, and his influence is still very much present. Dapper Dan paved the way for inclusive sizing and dynamic designs. At the time, luxury houses only catered to a smaller size range, which was primarily for white people with a slender frame. His designs and work made it possible for Black people to wear luxury, no matter their size. Additionally, he challenged the luxury houses to step out of their comfort zone and create something distinctive. “Something is black and becomes black when a black person does it.” (Nadya Awino, 10/6) Dapper Dan was the first to create fashion featuring logomania and avant-garde silhouettes as a Black man. Therefore, when his work was later replicated by Gucci, their fashion became Black. To me, Dapper Dan will forever go down in history as the Black man that made Black fashion luxury fashion.

I want you to remember this. When you pick out your next outfit, and stand in front of the mirror wondering if it is good enough, know it is. And when someone

Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/ jan/14/i-came-up-a-blackstaircase-how-dapper-danwent-from-fashion-industrypariah-to-gucci-god https://www.highsnobiety. com/p/asap-ferg-dapperdan-interview/ https://www.lofficielusa. com/men/dapper-dan-harlem-influence-fashion-guccilogo https://www.nytimes.com/ interactive/2019/07/01/magazine/dapper-dan-hip-hopstyle.html https://blamuk. org/2022/02/17/from-harlem-to-global-mogul-thecreative-impact-of-dapperdan/ https://www.newyorker. com/books/page-turner/ the-exchange-coco-chaneland-the-nazi-party https://www.thefader. com/2017/05/30/gucciknock-off-dapper-dan-jacket https://www.fastcompany. com/40533205/how-dapper-dan-harlems-tailormainstreamed-ghetto-couture

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Black punk, or “Afro-punk,” is crucial because punk’s spirit, heart, and soul is not black eyeliner, black hair dye, or black leather jackets – it’s Black people.

As the history of punk music was written, it bore a glaring omission: Black artists. Though Pure Hell, the group considered to be America’s first all-black punk band, came onto the scene around the same time as other renowned acts such as The Ramones, they are rarely recognized alongside their white counterparts. Recognizing the importance of

What, exactly, does it mean to be “punk?” Is it the way one wears their hair or dresses? Is it to be young and aggressive? Or rebellious and bizarre? Perhaps it is an attitude, a dedication to living, behaving, and presenting authentically without shame, embarrassment, or regard for social norms. Even with this overarching mentality and approach to existence, those who embody it are hardly homogeneous. Rebelliousness and aggression are traits commonly vilified in Black people. Presenting authentically without regard for social norms has long been a necessity for Black existence, as whiteness has been constructed as “normal” in the popular imagination.

While it is important to recognize the contributions of the classic Black punk pioneers, including Pure

Hell and Bad Brains, another punk group that combined reggae and hardcore styles in their music, many young black people today find their voice in blending punk music into other familiar black genres such as rap and electronic music. Artists normally situated in the rap genre such as JPEGMAFIA, Rico Nasty, Playboi Carti, and Death Grips have increasingly embraced punk aesthetics and musical influences as a form of self-expression.

By bringing punk into mainstream Black spaces, these artists are brazenly – and occasionally nihilistically –declaring and demanding their existence in a world that reproduces Black suffering while ignoring and marginalizing Black people. For Blackness, punk is a reclamation of that suffering. Through the unhinged lyrics, abrasive production, and aggressive performance of the genre, Black performers embrace the chaos and absurdity of explicit Blackness in a white world.

For electronic music producer and singer FKA Twigs, claiming punk means resisting the classification and compartmentalization that is often reserved for Black artists. While R&B is a style that is readily embraced by some, Twigs views it as a way to “other” many black artists that don’t easily fit into any one category. For Twigs, being heavily influenced by Poly Styrene, the Black frontwoman of the English punk band X-Ray Spex, the clicks, beats, and loud, relentless structures of her music are her embodiment of the punk ethos.