The cardigan’s label — a sporty affair featuring a boat and a skier — comes from Manhattan Industries, a garment company that was established in New Jersey in the mid-1800s and acquired by what is now known as Perry Ellis International in the Eighties. “It was an innovative, iconic American brand,” says Lorraine Medici.
Undoubtedly, the cardigan cause célèbre was also helped by Kurt Cobain, whose stained and crusy mohair olive green sweater by the defunct Perry Ellis-owned knitwear brand Manhattan Industries sold for a record $334,000 in late October, making it the most expensive sweater ever sold at auction.
Kurt Cobain ’s famed green cardigan from Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged concert sold for $334,000 at auction Saturday, establishing a new record for the most expensive sweater ever sold at auction and more than doubling its final-bid sale price from just four years ago.
Cobain’s sweater came into being just before the Nirvana frontman’s own 1967 birth. According to fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, the acrylic, mohair and Lycra blend cardigan was likely made between 1960 and ’65, when silky mohair was a popular material for menswear.
Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auction, called Cobain’s mohair cardigan “the holy grail of any article of clothing that he ever wore”. Cobain’s custom-made Fender Mustang guitar – which he used during Nirvana’s In Utero tour – was also on sale, and fetched $340,000 (£265,000).
The “Unplugged” concert is considered one of the band’s best performances, and it made the thrift-store cardigan iconic. The cardigan has never been washed since the concert and has all the original stains, too, so the new owner is sure to smell a lot like teen spirit. Cobain’s sweater wasn’t the only famous item of his to go up for auction.
What is Kurt Cobain’s cardigan?
Kurt Cobain’s vintage, olive-green cardigan is not only legendary, it’s now record-breaking.
The cardigan has never been washed since the concert and has all the original stains, too, so the new owner is sure to smell a lot like teen spirit. Cobain’s sweater wasn’t the only famous item of his to go up for auction.
Why do we love Kurt Cobain?
Six reasons why we still love Kurt Cobain. Cobain: One heck of a life. Cobain’s custom-made Fender Mustang guitar – which he used during Nirvana’s In Utero tour – was also on sale, and fetched $340,000 (£265,000). It had been on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for several years. The artist achieved colossal success after forming Nirvana …
A stained, cigarette-burned cardigan unwashed in nearly three decades has sold at auction for $334,000 (£260,000). Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain wore the green button-up during the band’s MTV “Unplugged” performance in 1993. It has not been cleaned since he last wore it. The iconic piece of clothing is now reportedly the most expensive sweater ever …
The artist achieved colossal success after forming Nirvana in 1987, but struggled with fame, depression and drug addiction. He killed himself in April 1994 aged 27. 2.43.6.3bda600.
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How much did the last time the Kurt Cobain cardigan sold?
Still, the last time it sold, it fetched a whopping $137,500. The cardigan’s not studded with diamonds or knit by a couture atelier. But more than 25 years ago, it was wrapped around Kurt Cobain during Nirvana ’s MTV Unplugged performance. The story of where it came from and what happened to it is more than a half-century long.
Cobain was a frequent thrift shopper and likely purchased the sweater at a second-hand shop , according to Chrisman-Campbell. “It was part of a much larger trend in Seattle in the early Nineties, where people were buying vintage, recycling clothes, and creating clothes from found objects,” she says.
Kletjian confirms that he’s kept the sweater in mint-grunge condition; he put it on only once, but took it off after less than 40 seconds. “It’s kind of a weird, powerful thing when you do something like that, when we put on somebody else’s [clothes],” he said.
The long journey of the $137,500 sweater worn by Nirvana’s frontman. Former race car driver Garrett Kletjian is the self-described “custodian” of the garment. But the cardigan’s journey started 60 years ago. The world’s most expensive cardigan is locked in a gun safe in rural Pennsylvania.
When the Louvre asked to display the cardigan, Kletjian declined; he felt he needed to personally make sure it was safe, and Paris was too far away. Which means the knit is locked in his home, where no one else can appreciate it. “That’s what started to bother me,” he says. “I have this sweater.
Cobain’s sweater came into being just before the Nirvana frontman’s own 1967 birth. According to fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, the acrylic, mohair and Lycra blend cardigan was likely made between 1960 and ’65, when silky mohair was a popular material for menswear.
The world’s most expensive cardigan is locked in a gun safe in rural Pennsylvania. It has a mysterious stain in one of its pockets — “some kind of brown, crunchy something in there,” according to the sweater’s owner, which he guesses could be chocolate, or vomit. There’s a missing button and two cigarette burns.
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