Fascinating Vintage Fabric of the Week - Taki 183 - Graffiti Artist

 

This vintage 1970s fabric had me stumped. Are the letters and numbers from a high school year book, classroom room numbers, or maybe bible verses?  I had to do a bit of research to find out the meaning behind the names and numbers. 

The fabric is sold and no longer available, but please read about TAKI 183 - Graffiti Artist Pioneer.


Take a look at the center of the photo and you will find TAKI 183 in yellow. 

It turns out that TAKI 183 was the alias of the very first graffiti artist written about in the media in 1971 by The New York Times.  Taki was the nickname of a Greek teenager that lived in New York and 183 was the number of the street he lived.

Taki soon had copycats such as The King 145, Roberta 223, Mike 38 and many others.

You can read the full story about TAKI 183 by The New York Times dated July 21, 1971.

Check out the TAKI 183 website, you'll find photos of Taki's graffiti and biography (and The New York Times article above).

To see the history of graffiti check out the short timeline clips on "Timeline of Graffiti"  TAKI 183 is the fourth clip in.

This is one historic retro fabric that I am doubtful I'll come across again.  It's been said that the last whereabouts of Taki is he owns a foreign car shop.

Mice-a-Roni fabric - authentic, yay or nay?

I was so excited to recently have found some Wacky Packages fabric!

But...is the fabric authentic Wacky Packages? According to the website Lost Wackys, this Mice-a-Roni fabric is vintage 1970s but lists it as "Mice-A-Roni Imitation Wacky Material"

Say it isn't so!

Wacky Packages were trading cards created in 1967 that poked fun at American products and brands. Wikipedia has some great information about Wacky Packages.

As a kid my allowance money was eaten up by the sheer volume of Wacky Packages that I bought. Now I wish that I had those packages, I'd love to see them again.

I emailed the website administrator of Lost Wackys and asked for clarification about this fabric. I'm eagerly waiting for a response. I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE 1/1/12:

I think we can assume that this Mice a Roni fabric probably is a Wacky Packages knockoff, and dates to the 1970s.

A reader on Revival Fabrics facebook wall wrote that she also owns some of this Mice a Roni fabric and says, "Topps which did Wacky Packages did NOT do this. This is refered to by everyone as a knockoff. I don't know who manufactured and designed it. If it helps, I picked mine up along with some material called Quak Goats. It looks like Quaker Oats."

Interesting stuff. Now we know that both Mice a Roni and more than likely Quak Goats also, are both knockoffs of Wacky Packages.