Gucci is a cultural and fashion phenomenon, but with their recent blackface scandal; communities around the world are demanding answers.
Gucci recently marketed a black, turtle-neck sweater, with an extended neck. If the wearer unfolds and extends the collar up to his or her face, there’s a mouth opening with big red lips around it, resembling or evoking “blackface”. This doesn’t sit well with some. Reports have surfaced, claiming the turtleneck in question that covers the bottom half of the face with a cutout and giant red lips around the mouth, was intended to be a tribute to the late performance artist and designer Leigh Bowery.
Gucci's current president and chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri is now tasked with cleaning up all of this with an "apology tour", and one person he has to meet with, is who?!?! Daniel Day, the infamous, Dapper Dan.
My crew and I never cared about Gucci, until a boutique on 125th Street, in Harlem, started selling it. I can honestly say, I'd never heard of, or cared about Gucci, until I started seeing my childhood heroes; drug dealers and hustlers, wearing it. At that same time the hip hop artists of that era had started assimilating drug dealer/hustler characteristics into their personas.
This establishment's marketing strategy was, they made Gucci, Louis Vuitton, MCM, and Fendi and always sold them cheaper than the market price. His margins were much lower, but sales volumes made up the difference and business was booming. His customers were all competing factions, (drug dealers, pimps, rappers, singers, and other entertainers), trying to be the first with the flashiest coat, and Dan started thinking about how to satisfy their appetite for luxury. He sourced his supplies by buying up stocks of Gucci bags, cutting them up, using the monogrammed leather and emblems for his own creations. It was fabulous, we loved it when we saw it.
Dapper Dan had a knack of inventing products that Gucci and the other mention designers weren’t making, themselves. There were some noteworthy “hood” products he created. He made Gucci wheel covers and interiors for vehicles, and bulletproof vests.
Gucci and all of those other fashion designers eventually sued Dapper Dan in the 1990's, and he went out of business. The irony in all of this, Gucci realigned themselves with Dapper Dan in 2017, and now they've hailed his expertise to clear this blackface scandal, all up.
