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It's New York Fashion Week, the semi annual event when designers show their collections to the world so fast fashion brands can decide which styles to rip off. But unlike wet subway seats, fashion Week hasn't always been a New York institution. It's had a long walk down the runway to get where it is today. It all started in France in the sixteen hundreds, which might not surprise you, but back then Paris was very much not known for fashion. The French were about as stylish as a croc wearing
a fanny pack. At that time, Madrid was actually the fashion capital of the world, and thanks to their tiny tapas, they could actually fit into all the sample sizes. But everything changed for France when Louis the fourteenth was, you know, King of Fid. Louis turned France into a major power, and he wanted the thread.
To show it.
For him, fashion was essential to the monarchy's prestige. I mean, no one wants to be executed by a guy wearing cargo shorts. Louis's obsession built up France's fashion and textile industry and soon turned Paris into the world center of fashion, which by default made it the world center of cocaine and bitchy gossip as well. It was under Louis that France established the idea of showing fall designs in the
spring and spring designs in the fall. So you can thank him for that trendy coat you're wearing in August.
Ooh, who new.
Fauforurt was so hot. France continued to dominate the fashion industry for centuries until World War Two, when Paris was under German occupation. This grinded their fashion influence to a halt because A no one could come to Paris to shop, and b Coco Chanelle was too busy banging Nazis to make any clothes. I know, terrible right, But no matter how many times I remind them of this, the boutique still won't give me a discount on a classic flat. But Paris's defeat turned out to be a win for
the American fashion industry. The US seized on the opportunity to fill that gap quicker than a forever twenty one dress falls apart in the laundry. In nineteen forty three, America held the first Fashion Week, or as it was known then press Week, started by a publicist Eleanor Lambert. It launched the careers of designers like Hattie Carnegie, Norman Morrel, and Claire mccardal, whose claim to fame was inventing sportswear.
And by sportswear, I mean any casual clothing, not the athleisure that you wear even though your main exercise is getting a caramel frap in the Starbucks drive through three four I oh whoo.
Ah.
Standard is tough. Before press Week, magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar were really all about European designers. They treated American designers the way they treated the Kardashians in twenty ten they ignored them. But once press Weeek started, they treated American fashion like, well, the Kardashians. Now, she said she'd eat poop to look good?
Should I eat poop?
New York Fashion Week became such an institution that fashion capitals like Paris, London and Milan soon added their own versions, and they continue pushing the fashion envelope to this day. You could only get away with severed heads in Milan. If that was on a New York runway, everyone would
just assume it was another murder. As time passed, New York Fashion Week became home of so many seminal moments, like in the fifties when James Galano's popularized feminine glamour, or Adolfo, who gained fame in the sixties for his emphasis on accessories. And in the seventies, Norma Kamali introduced a sleeping bag coat, although if you just wear your kid's sleeping bag, it looks almost good. As styles changed, so did fashion week itself. In the seventies and eighties,
it turned into a NonStop party. Shows were held at nightclubs and celebrities started attending. By the early two thousands, celebs had become a permanent mainstay. Sarah Jessica Parker, Paris Hilton. Everyone was there, and that Hollywood glamour is still present to this day.
But what was Larry.
David doing in the front row? He looked so miserable to be there. He should have been on the catwalk. Through the years, Fashion Week has had different homes in the city, from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center, but the most important place it's moved to in recent years is the same place you get all your porn the internet shows started live streaming, and designers began inviting bloggers and influencers to events. This all democratized fashion and made it
more accessible to the public. Or at least that's what I tell my therapist when we're working through my online shopping addiction. I'm broke. New York Fashion Week hasn't just reflected the changing technology, It's also held a mirror up
to society. From designers responding to the Me Too movement to the ongoing fight for more racial diversity on the runway, New York's been the site of progress for trans models, disabled models, and body positivity, which is kind of the least the fashion industry could do after telling women not to eat for the last one hundred years. So now you know everything about New York Fashion Week and how
it came to be and how it's changing for the better. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some poop to eat.
Here we go.
Today is the official s Thoughts of New York Fashion Week, or, as New York has called it, Thursday for more. Please welcome to the show, our newest daily show correspondent. Do'll say sloan everybody.
Thanks Drev. Yes, it's fashion Week, And while we'll.
See some new looks.
Some things will never change. For example, we know at least one model will fail at her only job walking down the runway, and that some designers going to try to sell us clothes they fished out of a dumpster. But the thing MM that GA's the most attention every year is the cultural appropriation that never goes out of style.
Well, do say, for people who don't know, can you explain what cultural appropriation is?
Sure, it's when you take something that divines the culture that you're not a part of and profit off of it. The fashion industry does it all the time. They take from black culture, Native Americans, Asia, you name it. I mean the models even appropriate their body dimensions from the aliens and clothes encounters.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, But you'll say, to be fair, not all instances of cultural appropriation are that extreme.
Well, yeah, that's true. Not every person who listens to rap or Where's a Kimono? Or sings the chorus to Desposito, it's trying to steal someone else's culture.
Let's put you here because I love singing Desposito.
Well, you can definitely sing it because you know you look like a Puerto Rican.
Ohl.
But sometimes across the line, like when you get movies about white boys saving jazz or Miley Cyrus.
Twerkin' ugh hell.
Cultural appropriation is the only thing Taylor and Katie can't agree on.
Okay, okay, But some people look at some of these examples and they sing, why the fuss.
Because, Trevor is when white people discover something that used to be considered ghetto.
For example, look at big butts. I always try to thank you.
Big butts used to be considered undesired, but since the Kardashians bought all of theirs, now everybody wants one. Ooh, and don't get me started on dreadlocks. When black people have them, they're discriminated against, they even get fired over it. But when white people have them, clothes fly off the racks. Look at this, this is a fashion shower.
She a avatar? Wait, go back? Was that Kendall Jenna?
Baby, It's always Kendle Jenna.
Yeah.
Well, you know what they'll say, I'm gonna I'm gonna lie.
I hear you.
And this is interesting because for me, it's weird. Where I come from, cultural appropriation isn't really a big deal, right My My family's always trying to get my white friends to wear African clothes. They don't view it as white people trying to steal our culture. They think they're embracing it.
Mm hmm.
And that's the attitude they got my ancestors over here. These white men are trying to steal us, they're embracing us.
Come on, go get on this boat. Okay, no, no, but the way. But it's not just Africa. When Beyonce did that video where she.
Dressed up like an Indian goddess, right, people here were upset, but in India a lot of people loved it.
Okay, not travl Beyonce is a bad example because she's a lotteral goddess. Come on, forget culture. Beyonce is so my identity. I wouldn't even press charges. I'd be like, thank you, this is a honor. Look, Trevor, this is about equality. If minorities were equal, they wouldn't worry about people taking their culture because that wouldn't be all they have. Look, white people, if you're gonna appropriate take everything, take the good and the bad.
You can take my struggle to get pulled.
Over for no reason, get followed through a store and the next time there's a Black Lives Matter march. I want to see you there, kindle, but don't worry about bringing that pepsi. Girl, We drink spry, ju say slow and everybody.
Huh. Welcome to c P Time, the only show that's for the culture. Today, we'll be discussing black contributions to fashion. Normally, when we think about black fashion, we think about church hats so big they block your view of Jesus. Or we think about those soups that Steve Harvey wears had haul all the buttons, leave some buttons for the rest of us. Steve, they'd keep them my clothes together with staples.
But in actuality, the world of fashion has been filled with influential and iconic African American designers, like our first trailblazer, Zelda Wynn Valdez, who was one of the first designers whose clothing accentuated women's curves. Before her, women's fashion covered up their figures with big ass skirts the size of a carnival cruise ship. Women would get lost just bending over to tie the shoes. Zelda's curve flowing designs were so popular that Hugh Hefferner asked her to design the
iconic outfit for the Playboy Bunnies. I never went to the Playboy Mansion myself because I was married, and I also have a severe phobia of rabbits. I never know where rabbits are hiding, and if you can pull one out of a hat, you can pull one out of anywhere. Here's my ass. I don't want to be around that. Another black creator of coteur is Stephen Burrows. He rose to fashion prominence in the early seventies during the disco era. I was always confused by disco. I couldn't tell who
was dancing and who was giving me directions. But disco isn't just about the moves, It's about the fashion, which Stephen Burrows helped shape. He hung out at Studio fifty four and was popular among its celebrity regulars. He was the first to design clothes that were comfortable on the dance floor, even at three am, right when the cocaine hit so hard you thought you were the disco ball.
Cocaine was better in the seventies. Burrows also invented lettucing, which is when you make the material at the edge of a garment curve and ripple like a piece of Lettuce. I'll have to take his word for it, because I've never eaten a piece of letters. My favorite vegetable is caramel covered popcorn. And finally, our last designer brings us to the modern day. Virgil Ablow the first African American artistic director at Louis Vauton and driving force behind this
decade streetwear movement. He made high end fashion take streetwear seriously. You know, fancy logos, T shirts, chunky sneakers, hoodies, pretty much anything you're not supposed to wear to a funeral unless you're in the deceased had beef rist in peacepencer. Miss Jordans is stepping on your grave. Now, don't be fooled by the term streetwear. One of Ablow's biggest companies, Off White, sells sweatpants for over three hundred dollars, and
this luxury undershirt costs two hundred. Although I don't know why you would spend so much money on a shirt that ain't nobody gonna see. You know how much I paid for my underwear? Nothing. A six pack of drawers fell off the back of a Walmart truck in nineteen eighty seven, and I never looked back. So the next time you zip your fly and you're looking fly, remember the African American fashion trail blazers who made you that blazer. Now, if you'd excuse me, I'm gonna make my first shirt
retail price ten thousand dollars. This old man has his debts, but that's all the time we have for today. I'm Royd with Junie. This has been CPE time. And remember for the culture. Gave me some damn Somebody give me a napkin. I'm bleeding on my fabric.
My guest tonight is a fashion icon who pioneered high end street where catering to gangsters, athletes, and musicians. His new memoir is called Dappa Dan, Made in Harlem.
Please welcome Dapper Dan. Welcome to the show.
Thank you, thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to have you here because I remember the first time I heard your name was in a rap song. I remember rappers would rap about being laced up by Dappa Dan. You know, people would talk about these threads from Dapadan styles by Dappa Dan. It was an idea and it was a myth.
And now when.
People see you today, they go the suits, they see you dressing people at the met gala. They think, oh, yeah, this man's a fashion designer. But you didn't start in the most normal place. You started making something out of nothing as a hustler.
Yes, exactly. I started with nothing. I was like you probably say, you was born in crime. I was born in crime. Wow right, yeah, And so I had to I had to adjust to life. So I used the tools that was available to me. When I wanted to open up a store, nobody would sell to me. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna figureut how to do this myself. I'm gonna learn how to make fabric and do everything that the big boys do and do better than they do it.
You really, yeah, I mean you really.
You really did something that I don't think anybody thinks is possible. I don't think anyone has achieved in the same way that you've done it. For those who don't know, you know those like very fancy Fendy, you know outfits that you see, you know, all these designer clothes where you see like all the labels everywhere on it, like Louis Vuitton, Luviatan, Leviatan Leave's or Fendy, Fendy, Fandy Fendy, Fendy, Fanny, that.
Was that was him.
So a lot of people don't know this about Dapadam, but but you came along and you created like a street version of what these high end brands were creating. You made your own version of Gucci, your own version of Fendy, your own version of all of these brands, which became bigger than the brands for many black people.
Yeah, you know what I did. I what they call me is the father of logo media. I looked at the brand, I looked at them. I'll say, Wow, everybody's excited about the logo, but Gucci is not making jackets. Findy is not making jackets.
One of these guys.
Are making jackets in office. I said, wow, Well, if they're excited with the bag, imagine if I could make them look like the luggage.
You have now gotten to a place where you're no longer seen as an outsider, but rather a trendsetter. You work with these fashion houses. They've teamed up with you. For instance, you work with Gucci now where they Saidabadam, we want to.
Create with you.
In fact, you were part of the conversation when Gucci had that incident where they came out with those designs where people there was backlash on social media.
Yes, why did you team up with them? Why did you? Why did you work with Gucci?
And many?
Well, you know what I did.
I did a lot of research even before I got into the partnership, and I researched like Alexandro the lead designer, and I researched Marco the CEO.
And I know these men were genuine. So I said, what happened? I said, well, y'all, I don't know what happened. You know, if you shoot a guy by accident, you shoot want purpose, he's dead. So I told him you have to come, you have to come to Harlem, and we got to fix this. You got to explain to people what they did. And they came, you know, And so now we have to change, make a program whereby Gucci's gonna be putting money into different programs. We're gonna
have inclusivity. We got vice presidents now in a popolo and so it's a big program. It's the change makes the program. So we're gonna make a change. And actually what we're starting here with Gucci, we need to move that on to other brands.
What do you think you want to see changing the future in fashion now that Dappa Dan has a name and clouts.
What I really would like to see is that you know, culture is what moves fashion, and you know this hip hop culture went global, right, So if the culture can go global, why can't the representatives of the culture go global as well?
So that's what I advocate for. I advocate for.
More people who make a contribution to the culture that enables these brands to make money, to be inclusive today.
Right, make that money. It's an exciting book, an amazing life. Thank you so much for being on the show.
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