Three friends sporting Cazal glasses on the corner of Delancey and Orchard in NYC, 1982. Romero notes that Dapper Dan had a body shop where he created custom car interiors for clients, an operation she wrote about in her book Free Stylin’: How Hip Hop Changed the Fashion Industry. He was creating custom, one-of-a-kind, luxury garments that had not been in the marketplace, utilizing the logos that were popular at the time from very prestigious brands, i.e., Louis Vuitton or Gucci or MCM.” He had a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week custom shop. Image Credit: Dapper Dan of Harlem/© The Museum at FITĮlizabeth Way calls Dapper Dan (whose bomber-style jacket is shown here) “one of the most significant designers in the late 20th century” because “he opened up a dialogue between American sportswear and European luxury.” Elena Romero adds, “the idea of custom and tailoring in the African American community is nothing new, but Dapper Dan provided a voice to a particular generation gave them access to affluence. We see Louis Vuitton’s ongoing relationship first as this aspirational brand, and then as this brand that is partnering with hip-hop ideas and hip-hop culture.” “Then more recently, we see Louis Vuitton interacting with hip-hop in more concrete ways, specifically when working with Virgil Abloh. “Louis Vuitton, along with Gucci, MCM, and others that have rode this logo mania wave from the ’80s to today,” Way says. Louis Vuitton is one of the most beloved European fashion brands in the hip-hop community, and the label eventually returned the love by working with figures from the culture. Image Credit: Gift of Dorothy Lieberman/© The Museum at FIT He has a collaborative partnership with Clarks, and he continues to be a trendsetter in that way, having a wide variety of shoes that really fit his look and lifestyle.” When you think about the first fashion references in music, you think about, ‘I got the Johnson’s Baby Powder and the Polo cologne,’ from ‘La-Di-Da-Di.’ He’s walked the walk, and he’s talked the talk, to this day, also with sponsorships. His penchant for wearing dozens of gold chains at once makes him what Romero calls the “King of Bling,” adding that he “utilized oversized, exaggerated jewelry as a way of making a name for himself and flaunting his success. Rapper Slick Rick was one of hip-hop’s first fashion icons. These references are much more international than people realize very early on.” We see all of these mixes, not just with hats like Kangol, but also British walkers and valley shoes. A lot of interest in European menswear is located in that too. “We’re thinking about the South Bronx at this time it’s Black American communities, it’s Latinx communities, but you also have this European influence coming in via the Caribbean. “Something that I think is really interesting, and it’s not necessarily spoken about enough, is the cultural mix that hip-hop was born out of,” Way says. Kangol is a British brand popularized in Jamaica and then in New York City, where figures like LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash, and Kangol Kid immortalized their bucket hats. Image Credit: The collection of Eileen Costa/© The Museum at FIT The nameplate was a piece of jewelry that would allow you to stand out.” I remember turning 16 and that being the thing that I wanted to ask for, and the same that I did for my daughter recently. Something like a nameplate chain, especially for women, almost seemed like a rite of passage. Many of us got customized jewelry with our name, as another way of being seen. “I actually lent the museum my name ring from the early Eighties. “We see not only on chains, but we also see them in earrings and rings,” Romero says. In 1991, Chanel’s Karl Lagerfield ideated a fashion collection inspired by hip-hop, with this chain referencing hip-hop’s love for dookie ropes and nameplate pendants. Image Credit: Gift of Depuis/© The Museum at FIT If you ask anyone about a shearling jacket, they’re not going to be able to tell you what brand it was, but everybody knows that shearling.” There were also gloves and a hat that would go with it as well, something that folks could pick up downtown. “The outerwear would be in brown and blue, and gray, black, and tan. “I never owned a shearling, but it was on my most desired list,” Romero says. The shearling was the go-to outerwear piece for many young New Yorkers in the Eighties. then became the first hip-hop group with a seven-figure shoe endorsement. concert, and he sees these thousands of kids holding up their Adidas as Run-D.M.C. When German brand Adidas saw American sales surging, they couldn’t figure out why.
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