In addition to music, the leader of Nirvana, who died 30 years ago, on April 5, 1994, also inspired an entire generation thanks to his wardrobe and his grunge “anti-look”.
Everything has been written regarding the music of Kurt Cobain, leader of Nirvana who died 30 years ago, but not regarding his look, or rather his anti-look, copied, recovered: the image escaped him, like so many others things.
Worldwide explosion: the video for Smells like teen spirit, the launch pad for the trio’s second album, Nevermind, hit the TV screens in 1991. Cobain sports two T-shirts one on top of the other, bought second hand.
“He grew up in poverty and layers them to hide his thinness which has long made him self-conscious, even though he was a handsome boy,” describes Charlotte Blum, author of “Grunge, eternal youth”, published by Epa for AFP. .
“An anti-look”
These clothes remain in the collective imagination. Like others worn later, between fly glasses or worn cardigan from the famous MTV Unplugged television show broadcast at the end of 1993. Cardigan sold at auction for $334,000 in 2019.
“It was an anti-look, a bit dilapidated, but this guy is a paradox, he paid attention to it”, brushes for AFP Marc Dufaud, author of the recent “The Fabulous World of Kurt Cobain” published by Éditions du Bolt.
What Charlotte Blum confirms: “If there is one person who hoped to break through, it’s Kurt Cobain. He wants to become a rock star, not to be rich but to no longer lack money.”
For the filming of Smells like teen spirit, the group recruited extras through a flyer – the internet does not exist – insisting: “No clothing with brands or logos please”. But success trumps everything. Grunge becomes a brand and Cobain its silhouette, once morest his will.
“Unfortunately, you can’t control it when you become a phenomenon, an icon,” emphasizes Charlotte Blum. “Cobain wanted to become a star but he was overwhelmed when he hoped to do things gradually, as he saw fit. There, it’s not just an album that works, it defines a genre,” continues Marc Dufaud.
Subversion through clothing
Marc Jacobs, a great couturier, designed a collection inspired by this movement at the time. “We have always focused on fashion but it always looks to the street to create. The cruel irony is to borrow from poverty to create luxury,” explains the specialist in the grunge sphere and its epicenter, Seattle .
Cobain, however, attempted subversion through clothing. On the front page of Rolling Stone magazine, his T-shirt mentions “Corporate magazines still suck”.
The singer and guitarist also chooses his T-shirts to promote fringe artists that he cherishes, like the tormented Daniel Johnston. Cobain also appears on the front page of The Face magazine in a blue floral dress to denounce the ambient virilism of guitar groups.
The singer makes it known: “If some of you hate homosexuals, people of color or women (…) don’t come to our concerts”.
Tear off any label
The message has spanned the decades. A dress was recently worn by American artists Kid Cudi and Post Malone. One of the guitarists of the British punk band Idles performs on stage today in this outfit, complete with hair and mustache of a Visigoth warrior.
“That means that the world hasn’t changed that much in 30 years, the problem is that we talked more regarding the cliché of dirty hair from grunge than regarding female groups like L7 who defended family planning” regrets Charlotte Blum.
Cobain will never stop tearing away any label, including that of carelessness, displaying himself with humor in lamé signed Jean Paul Gaultier for a clip. In February 1994, Nirvana played live on the French TV show Nulle Part Elsewhere, in a white shirt, black jacket and tie.
Pat Smear, back-up guitarist in concert, quickly takes off his dress shoes, feeling cramped in them. Cobain is suffocating in his existence. He committed suicide on April 5, 1994, at the age of 27.
