The owner of Kurt Cobain‘s cardigan worn by the late singer during Nirvana‘s iconic MTV Unplugged session has explained why he’s selling the item of clothing.
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Earlier this month, it was revealed that the jumper would be going up for auction for the second time in four years. The sale is set to take place this coming Friday (October 25) through Julien’s Auctions, with bids expected to reach up to $300,000 (£245,000).
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Garrett Kletjian – who bought the piece in 2015 and previously remained anonymous – revealed that he felt too much pressure from owning the piece of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia.
“I opened it up and it immediately hits me: ‘Oh, now I’m also going to be responsible for this’,” he told the outlet. “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…’ ”
Asked if he’d worn the cardigan at any point, he replied: “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.’”
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Kletjian went on the claim that he sees the cardigan “from a different perspective” than other fans, and said it was a “comfort” to Cobain. The late frontman wore the jumper on a number of occasions in the months leading up to his death.
“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.”
Julien’s Auctions auctioneer Darren Julien previously said it was “very important” that Cobain’s cardigan remains unwashed. “The stains are still there. There’s even cigarettes burns that you can see on the sweater.”