One of Kurt Cobain's most iconic pieces of clothing — his famed cardigan from Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance — is heading to auction once again. If you've been wondering why it's hitting the auction block, the owner has now explained — and no, it's not just about the money apparently.
While the Cobain cardigan owner had previously remained anonymous, a man named Garrett Kletjian revealed himself to be the one in possession of the piece of rock'n'roll memorabilia in a new Rolling Stone interview. And as he tells it, owning the cardigan was just too much pressure.
"I opened it up and it immediately hits me: 'Oh, now I'm also going to be responsible for this,'" Kletjian told the publication. "It was kind of like when my children were born years ago; I was so happy to see them, but then I was like, 'Oh no…'"
In efforts to confirm whether the cardigan had been worn by anyone other than Cobain, Kletjian said, "It's kind of a weird, powerful thing when you do something like that, when we put on somebody else's [clothes]. It's like when they say you should walk in somebody else's shoes.
"When I put that on, I was like, 'Ah, no. God, I don't want to wear this.'"
Kletjian also has his own views as to why Cobain was so attached to the cardigan, saying it was a "comfort" to Cobain.
"He was obviously in a bad way at the time. I look at this sweater as something that he put on every day," he said. "It was comfortable and it was familiar. So I liked the idea that, while he might have been tortured inside, this was a piece that offered him a bit of comfort."
As previously reported, the cardigan was previously sold to Kletjian in 2015 for $137,000 USD. It will now hit the auction block via Julien's Auctions on Friday (October 25), and the pre-auction minimum bid of $200,000 USD has already been matched. It's expected to sell for upwards of $300,000 USD.
"It's very important that we don't wash it," Darren Julien of Julien's Auctions previously said. "The stains are still there. There's even cigarettes burns that you can see on the sweater."
While the Cobain cardigan owner had previously remained anonymous, a man named Garrett Kletjian revealed himself to be the one in possession of the piece of rock'n'roll memorabilia in a new Rolling Stone interview. And as he tells it, owning the cardigan was just too much pressure.
"I opened it up and it immediately hits me: 'Oh, now I'm also going to be responsible for this,'" Kletjian told the publication. "It was kind of like when my children were born years ago; I was so happy to see them, but then I was like, 'Oh no…'"
In efforts to confirm whether the cardigan had been worn by anyone other than Cobain, Kletjian said, "It's kind of a weird, powerful thing when you do something like that, when we put on somebody else's [clothes]. It's like when they say you should walk in somebody else's shoes.
"When I put that on, I was like, 'Ah, no. God, I don't want to wear this.'"
Kletjian also has his own views as to why Cobain was so attached to the cardigan, saying it was a "comfort" to Cobain.
"He was obviously in a bad way at the time. I look at this sweater as something that he put on every day," he said. "It was comfortable and it was familiar. So I liked the idea that, while he might have been tortured inside, this was a piece that offered him a bit of comfort."
As previously reported, the cardigan was previously sold to Kletjian in 2015 for $137,000 USD. It will now hit the auction block via Julien's Auctions on Friday (October 25), and the pre-auction minimum bid of $200,000 USD has already been matched. It's expected to sell for upwards of $300,000 USD.
"It's very important that we don't wash it," Darren Julien of Julien's Auctions previously said. "The stains are still there. There's even cigarettes burns that you can see on the sweater."
