Brand Identity & Naming - Copy Writing - Art Direction - Photography - Photo Editing - Editorial
Men’s Bespoke, Classical British Tailoring Service
Challenge: Create a brand identity and tone of voice (including copy writing) as a group and then individually create a GIF and fashion lookbook.
Our Story
Founded by James Henry in 2021, Dapper is an independent tailoring menswear brand, offering a new vision for classic British tailoring.
James Henry, attended the prestigious Central Saint Martin College, at the University of Arts London but droped-out to fulfil his creative vision and desire to break convention. This led to the birth of Dapper.
James grew up in Brixton, inspired by the multicultural community, his father who worked tireless nights as a bus driver and his mother who mended clothes. From an early age, James witnessed the power of hard work and determination, making it inevitable he’d follow suit.
After James’ degree leaving his unsatisfied and searching for more, he instead found himself as an apprentice at a tailoring shop on Jermyn Street. Having thrived in this environment, honing his craftsmanship, James was inspired to combine his love and knowledge of classic tailoring with his proud South London roots.
Dapper was formed to fill a gap in the British menswear tailoring market. Before Dapper, tailoring garments were restrictive, stiff and limited to where and how they could be worn, catering only to the silver-fox fellas. Parting with the uptight traditions, James forged a new pathway for bespoke and sustainable fashion which retains the key qualities of tailoring at the core of his skilled craftsmanship.
What once started out as a one-man mission, with the occasional helping hand from his mother, Dapper has grown into a family of skilled tailors; still with the same hunger James began with.
This is traditional quality and contemporary style. Welcome to Dapper, it’s a pleasure to meet you.
The colour palette for the brand was inspired by James Henry’s upbringing and exposure to the key colours of London - his dad’s transport uniform.
Through brainstorming together, Joel came up with the concept of a fingerprint showing identity. I then developed this idea further and spun it so that the fingerprint would be James Henry’s (the owner of Dapper) fingerprint and the logo on each garment would be his seal of approval on each item. It also symbolises identity, individuality and personality which the brand is all about.
For this brief, I had to create a process document. I decided to design my document in the style of a newspaper - something I imagine Dapper’s audience carrying around with them or reading during their commute.
It was really fun to challenge myself and explore newspaper layouts and grids to help aid my design for this document.
Manifesto
We are confident, contemporary and we dare to differ. We are Dapper.
We believe in breaking with tradition and wearing classic tailored suits a different way. We aren’t for the average bloke. We are for the bold, the adventurous, the daring. There is power in the curious and brave. At Dapper, we embrace this, taking South London culture and combine them with classic traditions of tailoring.
Our aim is for each individual to experience freedom of expression. Every person is unique and should have bespoke clothing that reflects their individuality.
We believe that clothing should showcase your personality, your lifestyle, and your values. Be unapologetically you - Suit yourself.
We are what we wear. Dapper.
Here is an example of a few contact sheets I made in one style I considered for my final lookbook. This allowed me to edit out pictures a lot easier and decide which images paired well together. This project was full of new skills and I throughly enjoyed this brief which is reflected in my outcomes.