Dapper Dan

Daniel R. Day (born August 8, 1944), known as Dapper Dan, is an American fashion designer and haberdasher from Harlem, New York. His store, Dapper Dan's Boutique, operated from 1982 to 1992 and is most associated with introducing high fashion to hip hop culture; its clientele includes Mike Tyson, Eric B. & Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, LL Cool J, and Jay-Z. In 2017, he launched a fashion line with Gucci, with whom he opened a second store and atelier, Dapper Dan's of Harlem, in 2018. Dan is included in Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Dan was born in Harlem, New York, in 1944, at home with his grandmother acting as a midwife. He grew up on 129th and Lexington Avenue with three brothers and three sisters. His father, Robert, was a civil servant and his mother, Lily, a homemaker. All nine of them lived in a three-bedroom apartment. He recalls horses and buggies still on the streets in his early childhood, in the post-World War II days of Manhattan. By age 13, he was a skilled gambler; his success as a gambler helped him finance his first store.