A preview of upcoming fashion conversation panel "Clothing & Race" at Junior High
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Harlem fashion pioneer Dapper Dan—whose many devotees during the 80s included LL Cool J and Mike Tyson—was sued out of business by big name fashion houses in 1992 for designing pieces like a jacket with Michelin Man-esque sleeves emblazoned with Louis Vuitton’s trademark brown and tan logo pattern, copyright be damned.
But fashion is cyclical and life is ironic. Last week Gucci provoked a [viral backlash](http://www.thefader.com/2017/05/30/gucci-knock-off-dapper-dan-jacket) with a jacket from their 2018 cruise collection that looks practically identical to Dapper Dan’s 1989 piece, but with the Gucci logo in place of that famed LV.
A day later, Gucci [declared](https://www.instagram.com/p/BUw9JwsF0pE/) that the piece was “an homage” to the fearless designer, and Dapper Dan [announced](https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/fashion/dapper-dan-harlem-gucci.html?_r=0&referer=http://m.facebook.com) that he is “at the table” on a collaboration with the brand. Nonetheless, this is not the first time that a fashion brand has evoked a problematic conversation about race and appropriation.
These important nuances and recent events will almost certainly be discussed at [“Clothing & Race,”](http://www.welcometojuniorhigh.com/calendar/2017/6/11/clothing-race) part one of a three-part summer panel series on clothing and its social complexities at East Hollywood community art space Junior High. The June 11th event will put [Rikki Byrd](https://rikkiybyrd.wordpress.com/), fashion and African American studies scholar and Art Basel-featured researcher, and [Charles Harbison](http://www.elle.com/fashion/a34234/charles-harbison-designer-interview/), gender dichotomy-blurring designer whose clothes have graced the backs of Beyoncé and Solange, in conversation with each other. No doubt the two will have plenty of things to chat about.
**Written by Kylie Obermeier**
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