Dapper Dan on Letting Passion and Purpose Flow Through You

“I’m ready to be interrogated,”

Dapper Dan

laughed as he sat on his couch in a vivid red vest and button-down white shirt from the last photo shoot of the day at the Malcolm X Boulevard location. Though we were running over, I was more than willing to block off the rest of my day if it meant sitting down with one of the iconic visionaries responsible for the bridge between hip-hop, fashion, and Black culture. As I walked around to find a comfortable seat, I was greatly overwhelmed with the feeling of luxury, exclusivity, and Black excellence, from the velvet decor to the warm-toned indoor lighting to complement the setting sun at 4:00 PM on a Tuesday.

I finally found myself seated in a chair directly across from him, but with safe enough space between us to respect social-distancing boundaries in the middle of a pandemic. As I propped open my laptop, I looked up to notice photos of some of his most notable work with TLC. To be able to sit in a room with the ex-Harlem hustler turned creative connoisseur who spoke foreign, challenging languages of fashion and was translated onto the bodies of Jay-Z,

Tracee Ellis Ross

, Regina Hall, and

21 Savage

was nothing short of a blessing.

To my right was his son Jelani, who had been on set all afternoon working as a photographer, and to the far left, past the fireplace and flat screen, was his mentee, 18-year-old Tay. As Dapper Dan rested comfortably, I was still wrapping my head around the idea that this was happening. What was initially slated to be an hour-long interview transformed into a two-hour candid conversation far beyond any journalist’s expectations.

With that, we chatted with the couturier—born Daniel Day—in the upstairs of his Harlem-based atelier for two hours to discuss the influence of his childhood upbringing on his love for fashion, his discovery of spirituality through his 1974 trip to Africa, and how he and his children are developing new relationships with one another as we transition into the new decade.