by Aisha Gomez, the Latina Fashionista

Do you remember Graffiti being plastered all over NYC back in the day? Not just tagging and weak-ass vandalism, but the art of Graffiti that you’d catch on the trains going home or the handball courts around the way? Whatever happened to graf culture?

I remember the guys from the block taking the valves off Aqua Net hairspray aerosol cans to acquire a larger, smoother spray mist when tagging up on Wade Junior High on Morris Avenue in the Bronx. It was such an accomplishment, to tag their names and have all the kids admire the craftsmanship and to have the cojones to deface school property. That is until the cops or school officials figured out who was who and suspensions, probations and all sorts of goodies were handed out. That was back in 88’, before New York and other cities that had issues with graffiti artists tagging up on subways and other properties started buckling down hard on these “defacing criminals”. Since then Graffiti has been absent from the NYC landscape.

That is until now…Tattoot, the new backpack and messenger bag collection that vows “graffiti is OUTLAWED no more!”, was formed by art curators David Ben David and Eddie Shabot. They put together their love of graffiti and street art and are rewriting the rules to provide outlets for graffiti artists around the world. The collection consist of cool backpacks with pockets to hold books, markers, spray paint as well as messenger bags that function as laptop bags. Be sure to pick up your work of art at www.tatootbags.com or Dr. Jays starting mid July.