Dapper Dan didn’t just address a sold-out crowd at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday night — he had attendees rapt with his wit and wisdom.

In a Q&A with Monica L. Miller, guest curator of the Costume Institute’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” the designer spoke of the power and influence that Harlem, N.Y., music and young people have had — and continue to have — on his life. Born Daniel R. Day but better known as Dapper Dan, the 81-year-old turned out in his unrivaled style — a shimmery three-piece black suit with brocade trim, a ruffled yellow shirt unbuttoned at the neck and a black cowboy hat.

One of nine siblings, he has lived in Harlem throughout his life and ran the Dapper Dan’s boutique from 1982 to 1992. Dressing high-profile musicians helped to bolster his own image, but his repurposed styles that incorporated Louis Vuitton and Gucci handbags widened his reach. In 2017, the designer partnered with Gucci for a collaboration, and he later teamed up with Gap.

At different points during Friday’s ticketed event, the designer deflected the spotlight from himself to zero in on the importance of sensing whatever factors are at play. “Like I told some students earlier today, ‘I did not dictate fashion. I transformed culture.’” To that end, Dan recognized how transformative musicians such as Miles Davis and The Beatles could be, and he wondered, “How can I use music as a platform to transform fashion?”

He credited his father, who was born in 1898 — 35 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted and who had to teach himself how to read in order to get a job — for his own strong work ethic and interest in reading. During his father’s 15-year tenure with the New York City Housing Authority, Dan said he never missed a day of work and he was only late once, due to a blizzard in 1947. Dan, who now has a new atelier in Harlem, spoke enthusiastically about current endeavors, as well as his past.

Bringing Luxury to Harlem

“People like myself, we wanted to be recognized. It’s been 40 years since I introduced logomania. It’s no secret why Louis Vuitton hired Virgil [Abloh in 2018 as men’s artistic director] or why they brought Pharrell [Williams] on [as men’s creative director in 2023]. When you look at the collection, there’s still this concept of logomania. People want something they can identify with, except for the people at the top — they no longer need it. But all of the aspiring people, all of the rappers, all of the people who are newly rich, want to be recognized. That’s why the logo is so important. I was like, ‘OK, Gucci is going to give you two Gs. I’ll give you 100.’”

How Logomania Relates to Music

“I understand music. We’ll take a song and when we get through with that song, you’ll never know that is the same song. I said, ‘I’m going to do to fashion the same thing that jazz musicians did to music.’”

Deconstructing a Look at the “Superfine” Exhibition

“The jacket [made for DJ Hurricane] has a mink collar and the inside is also mink. I made jackets with mink inside and logos outside. In the beginning, the rappers wanted to look like the gangsters. The rappers had to stand outside the store, because they wanted to see what the gangsters were wearing when they were leaving. But the rappers, they wanted their own look. The big thing was when Russell Simmons said, ‘OK, your tracksuit is finished. Now go get an outfit. Go to Dan.’ That’s when I realized the energy became part of the music.”

Staying Relevant

“I was talking to some young students earlier today. I said, ‘We all have this dream somewhere inside of us.’ Maybe only a few of us will be able to achieve that. Every celebrity or gangster that I dressed, I would sit them down and say, ‘How do you feel? What are you trying to say?’ That’s how I’ve stayed relevant through the years. Everything is part of a collaboration. I see where the artist wants to go, or whoever it is, and I show them how to get there.”

Gucci Connection

“Even when I got that collaboration, I said, ‘Listen, I have to be able to continue to do what I did before.’ I had the insight to see that all of the brands rise and fall, because they get defined. That’s why I always try to keep it moving. I often compare it to swimming in the Harlem River. You have to know when to dive in and when to come out. You’ve got to pay attention to the current. That’s what being in fashion is like.”

His Take on Getting Dressed

“I think about the mission, and young people are my reference. The mission is, ‘How can I dress to make them want to listen to me?’ I know I have them when the girlfriends look at me. They say, ‘Why don’t you dress like that?’”

The Influence of Harlem

“When I was growing up, a lot of the celebrities were living in Harlem up on Sugar Hill. All of that was so inspiring. I grew up in the poorest neighborhood, but I have a brownstone now [laughs]. But I didn’t really know Harlem until I went to Africa and came back. [From 1968 to 1974, he toured throughout Africa as part of an academic program through Columbia University and the Urban League.] I was in the Eiffel Tower in France and people were talking about Harlem. Everywhere I went, they were talking about Harlem. When I came back, I started to really embrace it and study the history of Harlem. I’m part of the first generation that came from the great migration from the South.”

The Harlem Renaissance

“One of the most fascinating things about Harlem is that Harlem is all of us. I grew up in East Harlem with my poor Puerto Rican friends, my poor Irish friends, my poor Jewish friends. Without realizing it, I’ve been in a gumbo of culture. You’ll never find this anywhere else in the world. Growing up, the first Puerto Rican Day Parade was in Harlem [in 1958]. The first West Indian Parade was in Harlem [in 1947]. The first San [type festival, Giglio] was held in Harlem [in 1908].”

“The Battle of Versailles” Fashion Show

“All of you students of fashion have got to read about the Battle of Versailles [in 1973]. When I saw what Eleanor Lambert did [bringing American designers to France to square off against their European counterparts], I said, ‘I’ve got to do that in Harlem.’ She is responsible for putting the United States of America on the map for fashion. And she did it by taking us with her. She took 10 Black models, a Latino designer, Oscar de la Renta, and Stephen Burrows [among other designers] to battle the French.”

New Territory

“I just opened a big space on 116th Street to try to create a luxury space for us. They have their Fifth Avenue. I want Harlem to have its Fifth Avenue.”

Dandyism Versus Being Fly

“You’ve got to go back to Beau Brummell for dandyism. He was what I would call ‘a boy wonder.’ He’s got that swag, that personality, that look and that car. And everybody wants to be like him. That’s a modern dandy. You can’t define dandyism in terms that were used before, because it moves like the Harlem River. The number-one gangster in Harlem was Jack Jackson. I had to convert him to what I was doing. He was the boy wonder. He didn’t have the flash, but he had cash. I dressed his lieutenant, who went to an affair. And he said, ‘How can you have my lieutenant looking better than me?’ Then I had them forever. Prior to social media, that’s how you became popular, because the gangsters went to all of the major events — and they saw what everyone else was wearing.”

Dressing Gangsters

“I had to be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 10 years straight. I could never get Americans to work that [schedule]. Me and my African brothers were working 11-hour shifts.”

The Meaning of His Zoot Suit at The Met Gala

“They didn’t let me in the fashion door so I had to create a way to get in. I took their symbols and used them in a way that had never been used before. Both of those Sankofa signs mean ‘to go back so that you can go forward.’ All of the things that were known in the past, you need to go back and get them, or they will be wiped from our memory. Especially with the way that things are going now — they’re not showing our history.”

Staying Enthusiastic

“What people don’t understand is you can’t hurt me by taking everything away, because I started out with nothing. Every time they took everything away, I went right back out there on the street and set up a table. I had a three-story building on 125th Street, and a 2,000-square-foot factory on 120th Street. They took everything — all of the furs.…Every time they took it, I started over again.”

His View of Time

“I don’t look at time the same way as other people. I look at it in terms of biology and psychology. I stopped hanging out with my older friends because I live in the now with my thoughts and my body.”

Being Instagram Famous and Working With Gap

“I started out by trying to change the young people in Harlem. I started out at the top in my community. If you start at the top, you can go up and down. If you start at the bottom, it’s hard to go up. But I ain’t going to let them push me down. When you see me wear the hoodie, you see me wear it with an ascot. You’ll never see me with a tie on. Young guys put a tie around their neck sometimes. It looks corny.”

Reacting to a Standing Ovation

“Why you all clapping for me? I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you all.”