Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

A31
PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 30 July 2018
Fashion spotlight shines again for 1980s designer Dapper Dan

By DEEPTI HAJELA ally considered."
NEW YORK (AP) — In hip- Dapper Dan insists what
hop's golden era, the artists he was doing wasn't a
responsible for rap's distinc- knock-off. He wasn't like the
tive sound went to Harlem people who were making
fashion designer Dapper counterfeit bags and belts.
Dan for the period's equally His creations were "knock-
distinctive look. ups," he said.
Now the fashion ground- "I was creating things that
breaker, who spent more when somebody wore it,
than two decades out of they knew, 'Oh, no, Gucci
the public eye, is back. doesn't even make pants
He's got a partnership with and jackets and overcoats
Gucci and the likes of Be- and things,'" at least not the
yonce among those wear- way he was doing it.
ing his designs, like the lo- By the late 1980s, when his
goed jacket that is part of clients also included Mike
her costumes in her current Tyson, who got into a fight
tour with her husband, Jay- with another fighter at Dap-
Z. per Dan's store, the brands
It's a situation that Dapper had started to bring their
Dan calls "amazing" and power to bear against him.
that observers say is a re- In this Thursday, July 19, 2018 photo, designer Dapper Dan is seen during an interview at his atelier There were legal orders
flection of how hip-hop in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. and raids, including one
and street style have influ- Associated Press by Fendi, whose lawyer for
enced global fashion, with anti-counterfeiting efforts
him among the innovators. changed. Louis Vuitton among others also were used in every- was Sonia Sotomayor, now
The couturier, whose real As a young man with a — without the brands' per- thing from suits to car interi- on the U.S. Supreme Court.
name is Daniel Day, now reputation for sharp dress- mission. ors, in styles and silhouettes After his store closed in
has a new Gucci-spon- ing, "my first intention was He saw the pull of luxury that the labels themselves 1992 because of the legal
sored workshop in a Har- to transform myself through and brand names and weren't even doing. pressures, he said, he went
lem brownstone, not far clothes," he said. "I took that came up with the idea of "This is kind of the story of "underground," with private
from the now-closed 125th same concept in opening putting the logos people hip-hop," said Erik Nielson, clients including Floyd May-
Street boutique that once up a store, transforming coveted from bags and an associate professor at weather.
clothed Salt-N-Pepa, Eric B. people. When Gucci came luggage on clothes to be the University of Richmond, The Gucci partnership
& Rakim and LL Cool J. along, I saw the opportu- worn. in Richmond, Virginia, who came about after Gucci's
His operation now is a nity to do this element of "None of the big brands teaches African-American creative director, Alessan-
different one from the transformation on a larger were making coats and pop culture. "Dapper Dan dro Michele, put on the
24-hour-per-day shop that scale." jackets. That wasn't avail- took something that was runway in May 2017 a jack-
turned out custom-made Dapper Dan's outfits in the able," Dapper Dan said. there. He arguably made et that was strikingly remi-
jackets for those early rap 1980s were original designs That "left the whole field it better. ... He showed the niscent of one Dapper Dan
superstars, but Dapper Dan embossed with designer lo- open for me." brands all these possibilities created in the 1980s using
said some things haven't gos from Gucci, Fendi and His logo-draped fabrics it's clear they had never re- another brand's logo.q

Next 'Star Wars' film to use unreleased Fisher footage

Associated Press Luke Skywalker, will also ap- "Rogue One," was not an
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Carrie pear in the film, which for option.
Fisher is not done with "Star the moment is simply called "With the support and bless-
Wars" after all — Lucasfilm "Episode IX." It is scheduled ing from her daughter, Bil-
says unreleased footage of to be released in Decem- lie, we have found a way
the actress will be used in ber 2019. to honor Carrie's legacy
the next installment of the Fisher died in December and role as Leia in Episode
"Star Wars" saga to draw 2016 after she finished work IX by using unseen footage
her character's story to an on the middle installment in we shot together in Episode
end. the trilogy, "The Last Jedi." VII."Friday's announcement
The studio and writer-direc- Director Rian Johnson opt- also confirmed that Billy
tor J.J. Abrams announced ed not alter her storyline, Dee Williams will be return-
Friday that footage of Fish- leaving Leia's fate to be ing to the franchise as Lan-
er shot for 2015's "Star Wars: handled by Abrams. do Calrissian, a hero of the
The Force Awakens" will be "We desperately loved Car- rebellion who hasn't been
used in the ninth film in the rie Fisher," Abrams said in a seen in the latest trilogy.
space opera's core trilogies statement. "Finding a truly Also returning to the film are
about the Skywalker family satisfying conclusion to the Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac,
that includes Fisher's char- Skywalker saga without her John Boyega and Kelly Ma-
acter, Leia. eluded us." rie Tran, who all play heroes.
Filming is scheduled to be- He said recasting Fisher Adam Driver and Domhnall In this Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, file photo, actress Carrie Fisher
gin Wednesday at Lon- or recreating her using Gleeson, who play villains attends a special screening of, "Bright Lights: Starring Carrie
don's Pinewood Studios. computer graphics, as in the latest films, are also Fisher and Debbie Reynolds," at Alice Tully Hall in New York.
Mark Hamill, who plays was done in a spinoff film returning.q Associated Press