Ahead of his first year as a middle school art teacher, Kelvin Davis went shopping. He visited Express, a work- and partywear franchise with a location in Columbiana Centre Mall. The sales clerk rebuffed him. He was too big, too awkward of a size to fit in the store's slim trousers and slimmer ties.
Six years later, Davis made his modeling debut with celebrities DJ Khaled and David Ortiz for the plus-size menswear line DXL. That was only the beginning.
The Midlands native, in addition to being a content creator under the username Notoriously Dapper, has leveraged his life as a plus-size Black man into modeling and being an author. His decade-plus journey has taught him a lot about the fashion industry and how to navigate it, but it's also taught him a lot about himself.
"Men take out their insecurities on others, so if I created an outlet, we can create a space for better men," Davis said of the evolved ethos behind Notoriously Dapper.
The origin of Notoriously Dapper
After his visit to Express, Davis launched a blog geared at body positivity for plus-size men in 2012, Notoriously Dapper. More than a decade later, Davis is an in-demand plus-size model, speaker, author and content creator who works full-time under his online moniker.
Davis started his blog to provide fashion tips and bolster confidence in men dealing with body image issues.
"When the women's body positivity movement peaked," Davis recalled, his blog had been an established name for years, further boosting his online brand.
The blog wasn't an overnight success.
"In the beginning, it was a lot of misunderstanding, thinking I was promoting obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle," Davis said. "It took men a while to understand what I was doing."
Around the same time (2016-17), Davis wrote his first book — an etiquette guide for the modern man — and attended Men's New York Fashion Week for the first time. There, among his internet peers, he realized he could make money as Notoriously Dapper.
A few years later, around the time the COVID-19 pandemic halted much of daily life worldwide, Davis noticed a new trend amongst his followers. Men would message him thanks, ask for advice or send selfies of outfits they put together for a wedding.
"That's all I wanted to do, was help men feel confident. And it takes a lot for a guy to reach out to another guy. ... I don't take that lightly," Davis said, adding that he takes his platform — reaching 124,000 followers on Instagram — as a responsibility. "If they're left unseen, ... I know how much that can damage confidence."
Going from 'nice guy' to 'good man'
Around the time Davis started noticing more outreach from his male followers, his life was turbulent.
He separated from his wife in 2021. "Basically overnight," he went from only seeing his daughters a few times a week and living alone for the first time in his life.
"I had to start over," he said. He only owned a bed and a television.
He took the alone time to reconcile his life, his decisions and his future. He realized he'd spent so much of his life preoccupied with being a "nice guy" that he failed to make the right decisions at pivotal points.
Kelvin Davis reads from his book, "Notoriously Dapper: How to Be a Modern Gentleman with Manners, Style and Body Confidence."
"Being a nice guy is very superficial and inauthentic. … A lot of nice guys are just nice to save face or to please other people, whereas a good man does good things because it’s the right thing to do," Davis explained.
This ideal is the thesis of his upcoming second book. While his first book, "Notoriously Dapper: How to be a Modern Gentleman with Style, Manners and Body Confidence," was lighthearted, Davis is leaning into the darkness this go-round.
He's delving into his own life — his divorce, his experience as a Black man in the South, his identity as a father. He hopes his viewpoint will allow other Black men to see themselves and reckon with the good and bad that life throws at them.
His therapist is proud of him, and he has high hopes for the forthcoming book. "There's a lot of men I could potentially save by talking about these issues."
Content creation is hard work
Though he's no longer an art teacher, Davis said he makes it a priority to visit career days at local schools.
The No. 1 job kids want to be these days is a social media influencer. Davis said he wants the students to understand it's hard work.
"These kids aren't idolizing NBA players anymore," he said. "They're idolizing people on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok."
But Davis adopts a method similar to NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who visits schools with a sobering mission.
"I go in there with the notion (that) you're probably not going to make it, and it's okay if you don't," Davis said.
Modeling for the country's biggest brands
Kelvin Davis is a model, body positivity advocate, author and content creator from Columbia, SC.
The past several years have seen Davis step away from day-to-day blogging into modeling. He's shot campaigns for Target, Old Navy and Aerie Men. His next campaign is with Reebok for the brand's underwear brand in Walmart.
Davis' modeling career took off about five years ago, after that DXL campaign. He's focused on commercial brands with mass appeal — like Target or shorts brand Chubbies.
When approached to do an Armani ad in 2019, he turned it down. It's not the brand he's built. He only wants to work with brands that "everyday people" can access.
"I don't want people to go and see me in a Gucci ad," Davis laughed. "That's crazy."
