Dapper Dan credits the “Godfather of Soul” with changing the face of fashion.
“James Brown was to fashion back then as hip hop was to fashion when it first debuted,” the famed designer told Page Six Style at the Apollo Theater during opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday.
“Harlem had this style [that was] more of a jazz age,” he explained. “We were influenced by Sammy Davis Jr. [and] the Rat Pack, and then when James Brown came with the cape and all of that … I think that was a significant shift.”
Dan, who hails from Harlem, said that once Brown — who passed away in 2006 at age 73 — showed off his style and iconic talent, “the line was wrapped around the corner” of the Apollo.
“The older guys were like, ‘Get out of here with that stuff,’ the same way people reacted to hip hop. That was the most significant thing I remember,” he said. “James Brown and that cape changed my whole perception of what fashion was.”
Dan, along with Smokey Robinson, Angela Bassett and Keegan-Michael Key, were on the red carpet celebrating HBO’s premiere of “The Apollo,” a new documentary that screened in the theater.
As for Dan’s favorite performers he’s seen at the venue? Leslie Martin-fronted doo-wop group The Schoolboys.
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