There were 115 looks in Gucci’s resort show this week, but skip to No 33 for the top-line story. Model Alana Henry is wearing skinny jeans, gold high heels, a turban and 70s-style sunglasses. It is her jacket that is causing controversy – with its fur body and super-sized leg-o’-mutton sleeves made of shiny fabric covered with Gucci’s famous double-G monogram. On first viewing, it looked like luxe bordering on the absurd – AKA standard in creative director Alessandro Michele’s world – but a closer look, found on social media, showed it to be remarkably similar to another designer, one more known for his cult appeal than catwalk shows: Dapper Dan.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Salt-N-Pepa in Dapper Dan. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Dubbed a “natural born hustler” by Dazed & Confused and a “folk artist” by Pharrell Williams, Dapper Dan – or Daniel Day, to give him his real name – served hip-hop stars and the Harlem community with clothing throughout the 80s, with heavily monogrammed designs using the bootlegged logos of luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Fendi and – here’s the connection – Gucci. Clients included Mike Tyson, Nelly, LL Cool J, former drug dealer Alberto Martinez and Eric B & Rakim, who wore matching Dapper Dan jackets on the cover of their classic 1987 album Paid in Full. Henry’s jacket has been compared to a Day design made with Louis Vuitton fabric for Olympic runner Diane Dixon in 1989 by Dixon herself. On Instagram, she posted an image of herself in her jacket with the Gucci design next to it, writing: “‘Bish’ stole my look! Give credit to @dapperdanharlem He did it FIRST in 1989!”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The influence on the Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2017catwalk. Photograph: Victor Boyko/Getty Images

You have to see that Dixon has a point – logo aside, the two jackets look strikingly similar. Gucci has since acknowledged the fact. In a statement, the move was described as part of a collection that is “a continuation of Alessandro Michele’s exploration of faux-real culture with a series of pieces playing on the Gucci logo and monogram” Fair play when you look at the theme of this collection, which also includes the “Guccy” T-shirt that has gone viral. Michele credits Dapper Dan as an essential influence. The jacket in question is described as “an homage to the work of the renowned Harlem tailor Daniel ‘Dapper Dan’ Day and in celebration of the culture of that era in Harlem”.



That era – from 1982 until the closure of Dapper Dan’s Boutique in 1992 owing to the inevitable lawsuits by luxury brands – saw Day make tens of thousands of dollars at the peak of the business. This was through a style that could most easily be described as flamboyant – those logos, lots of fur and sharp suits – resourceful and imaginative. The clothes were often made using garment bags from Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Fendi stores, frequently spliced together with customised fur coats. At one point, Day offered a service to brand cars with the Gucci or Fendi logo. This look appealed to hip-hop stars, and also to what the New Yorker described in 2013 as “a new generation of kingpins and mini-kingpins” of the 80s crack boom. In a feature about Day, the magazine quoted former drug dealer Azie Faison on the appeal of Day: luxurious symbols of wealth tweaked for a customer who might feel alienated from the ‘real’ thing found in uptown boutiques in typically white neighbourhoods. It was expensive, too. “You had to pay on the same level as if it was from Gucci,” he said. “So it is Gucci, to us.” Rapper Fat Joe later commented on people’s reactions to him wearing a Dapper Dan suit to a club before he was famous. “They were looking at me, like, ‘Who is this? He gotta be somebody.’”

Fast forward to 2017, and the real Gucci is getting in touch with Day – and not to serve him papers this time. In the house’s statement, it was revealed that Michele had approached Day to collaborate, but without success – probably becauseMichele would have had to join an orderly queue of others wanting to do the same.

Marc Jacobs is a fan of Day, as is David LaChapelle, who was clearly influenced by him when creating an image of Lil Kim naked except for the Louis Vuitton monogram in 2004. Louis Vuitton’s menswear designer Kim Jones most recently cited Day as an influence for his autumn/winter 2017 collection, which included a logo-heavy, internet-breaking collaboration with Supreme. This all makes sense: Day’s work chimes with Michele, but also with a wider new preoccupation in fashion for overt logos and branding, seen at Louis Vuitton but also Balenciaga, Christian Dior and Vetements. Now in his early 70s, Day could well enjoy a second coming in style this year. Given his design sensibility, a collaboration with one of the logos he bootlegged so long ago can’t be far away.