Category: NonFiction

Worth A Read Yes
Length 304
Quick Review Daniel Day grew up in Harlem. He learned business and people throwing dice, but his passion for fashion made him into an icon. 

Daniel Day had never crossed my radar until I read Dapper Dan. That shouldn’t be surprising, my knowledge of anything remotely hip-hop is pathetic at best. After reading the book, I know more than I did; so that’s something.

Harlem has been home to a Renaissance, poverty, racism, violence, drugs, gangs, police brutality, art, culture, music, activism, change, and so much more. It’s a small and incredibly controversial area. Day has lived in one of the most interesting places during some of the most interesting years of recent history. Born in 1944, he grew up in the aftermath of the Renaissance, just in time to watch his home change and his family change along with it. From an early age, his life was grounded in education and hustling. A poor kid in a poor area, he hit the streets to make his money throwing dice because that’s where the money was then. He was a promising writer with journalistic aspirations, but it’s hard to dream distant dreams when money’s right in front of you and you’re hungry. Looking “fly” was important in Harlem, and Day did what he could to be the flyest. In his late thirties, he had children to support and wanted to hustle in a less legally gray way. He channeled his love for fashion into a high end boutique centered in and made for Harlem, catering to the hustlers he knew. It wasn’t long before word of his reputation spread throughout the country. Dapper Dan dressed hip-hop stars, rap up-and-comers, hustlers, and anyone who could afford his pieces. He tore down walls marking Harlem as a destination where people could and wanted to shop. 

From the beginning, Day makes it clear this is more than a memoir, it’s a story of systemic injustice. By page four, “It was understood, literally from birth, that the system didn’t really care about keeping our information correctly, that it didn’t really care about us.” His story cannot be told without also telling the story of Harlem, the people surrounding him, and the politics confining them. Day is a product of his environment. A bright kid, he grew up surrounded by hustlers and legends, like Langston Hughes, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Patti LaBelle, Sugar Ray and more. They were all brilliant with a knowledge of the world and no access to it because of racism, prejudice, laws, and stupidity. Day showed a great deal of promise as a student, especially as a writer, having won many local competitions. All that promise didn’t keep him from dropping out of school during his sophomore year to throw dice and hustle like those who came before him, “The long-term benefits of getting an education seemed abstract at best and a lie at worst.” He wouldn’t earn his GED until he was 24; later attending Iona College before dropping out to support his children. Heroin infiltrated Harlem, ruining lives and destroying potential; Day was not immune nor was his family. He went to jail twice for drugs and spent nine months in an Aruban prison for credit card fraud.

No topic is off limits in Dapper Dan. From religion to drugs to jail time to marital affairs, Day does not shy away from telling the ugly truths of his story. In those hard truths, a man exists of unwavering loyalty, hard work, intelligence, and the ability to consciously analyze the root of his failings in order to be a better business owner, husband, father, and man. 

Each part begins with a quote from a black writer or poet. Dapper Dan is sprinkled with literary, societal, political, and historical references spanning centuries and cultures – I had to look up several – from song lyrics to wars to a chapter titled “Raisin in the Sun.” Day is showing off his knowledge base in an endearingly confident manner. He wants the reader to not-so-subtly know he is more than his faults, he’s learned. 

Dapper Dan named his boutique after his moniker. He earned it on the street from the original Dapper Dan, and it stuck with him his entire life. If you google Daniel Day, Daniel Day-Lewis immediately autofills and pops up even if you correct it, but type in Dapper Dan and the fashion revolutionary is the first hit. There was a vacuum in the fashion industry. A lack of partnerships with white owned companies and the lack of black owned companies to partner with made it difficult to start his boutique. He didn’t let those obstacles stop him. Day found a way. He wanted and succeeded in creating a haven for people to purchase quality fashion without feeling unwelcome or the stares or being followed by security guards in stores, like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. When he opened his boutique, he took his skills of reading people and improving what already exists and brought them into his clothing. He started out by selling furs and moved into creating looks inspired by haute couture looks, “I blackenized them.” They weren’t Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, or anything else. They were Dapper Dan’s couture pieces. It took years for the fashion houses to realize what was happening in Harlem, and when they did, shit hit the fan. “They had to see that I had taken these brands and pushed them into new territory,” but they didn’t see it that way. 

Day overcame obstacles only to find more in his way at every turn. Dapper Dan is the story of a man navigating a world ruled by systemic racism. At 75 years old, he is still conquering the fashion world, creating trends, dressing some of the most influential artists, and expanding his mind. I enjoyed the book immensely.  

Memorable Quotes
“After heroin and cruel law enforcement turned neighborhoods like Harlem and South Bronx into ghettos, crack and AIDS arrived to turn our lives into waking nightmares.”
“I started reading and experimenting and sciencing it out.”
“I had never really bought into organized religion, but I was fascinated by the historical need for it.”
“Sometimes a thing happens, and you think that it happened to knock you down, but it turns out the experience really knocked you up.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Dapper Dan; Made in Harlem
Author: Daniel R. Day
With: Mikael Awake
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 978-525510512