Kelefa Sanneh’s “Harlem Chic”

From The New Yorker's archive: a wide-ranging profile of the legendary Harlem designer Dapper Dan.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   View in browser | Update your preferences     Annals of Style Harlem Chic Once the most influential haberdasher in New York City, Dapper Dan has lived on mainly in the mythology of hip-hop. By Kelefa Sanneh The journalist Kelefa Sanneh writes rolling, expressive pieces that assiduously decode our social and cultural mythologies. Since 2001, Sanneh has written more than two hundred articles for The New Yorker, on topics including the whereabouts of a missing hip-hop prodigy, the creative virtuosity of the pop star Grimes, and the exceptional legacy of Booker T. Washington. His first book, "Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres," will be published in October. Sanneh's work often illuminates the unexplored recesses of his subjects' lives. One of my favorite pieces by the journalist is "Harlem Chic," a wide-ranging profile of the legendary Harlem designer Dapper Dan. A former professional gambler, Dapper Dan remixed legacy fashion brands into iconic pieces for an assortment of rappers, kingpins, and others during the high-flying eighties. Using original techniques to combine logos from houses like Gucci and Fendi, Dan created a bombastic new style that continues to influence the hip-hop world, as well as the fashion establishment that he was irreverently deconstructing. Dapper Dan's approach, Sanneh writes, "reflected two contradictory impulses, both essential to hip-hop: a desire to claim traditional status symbols, and a desire to remake and redefine those symbols—to 'Africanize' them, perhaps, or to sample them, the way hip-hop producers sampled their favorite records." Sanneh's portrait of Harlem in the eighties is cinematic in scope, bringing to life the celebrities and wannabe gangsters who frequented Dapper Dan's boutique—all hoping to be transfigured, in expansive and wondrous ways, by his arresting designs. (Sanneh's story is the only New Yorker piece that ties together Harlem gangsters, the fashion dictums of Mike Tyson, and a counterfeit-goods raid in which the future Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, then a lawyer whose firm was targeting forgeries in New York, took part.) As the narrative progresses, Sanneh reveals the true nature of Dapper Dan's creative genius: his ability to capture a heady juncture in time, subverting and reinventing symbols of aspiration and allowing a previously marginalized generation to remake itself in enterprising new ways. Sanneh nimbly breathes life into another era, delivering a dazzling account that's so vivid you can almost imagine yourself walking down 125th Street, turning the corner, and discovering a rhapsodic new identity.   —Erin Overbey, archive editor More from the Archive     Onward and Upward with the Arts Where's Earl Sweatshirt? From 2011: Since the famous "Earl" video, Earl Sweatshirt hasn't been seen. But his bandmates in Odd Future have made an extraordinarily steep ascent. By Kelefa Sanneh     A Reporter at Large The Takedown of Tupac From 1997: Tupac Shakur was one of gangsta rap's biggest stars. But he got caught in a collision of cultures when inner-city gangs met up with the multibillion-dollar record industry. By Connie Bruck You're receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the New Yorker Classics newsletter. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up.   Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our privacy policy    The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products and services that are purchased through links in our newsletters as part of our affiliate partnerships with retailers.    Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.