Kurt Cobain Cosplay Costume, MTV Unplugged

[greenmachines]

I had refrained from building this thread because I had hit such a wall on completing my Kurt Cobain cosplay. Because Kurt was like the virtual master of thrift store shopping, his style elements were rare and out of production the day he purchased them. Sure, you can grunge like Kurt but you won't look like you actually own Kurt's grunge. But, today, I was at a garage sale and found a box of buttons for a dollar. I just got home and looked through and found a full set of matching iridescent green purple buttons for my faux mohair sweater. This was a hard item to find and I had given up. But here is Kurt's sweater from the museum display, the one he wore for his MTV Unplugged event and then the buttons I scored today... I will display my other items a post at a time for discussion.

and my new/old button find...

 

[greenmachines]

The elements include two tshirts (one we only see the collar), one is a custom print, one button up shirt, the sweater with iridescent buttons, the watch, two rings, the necklace ID lanyard with MTV unplugged ID, pants, belt, socks, shoes, and guitar..... ( if I miss anything it will be this custom guitar).

 

[greenmachines]

The tshirts are layered, I believe because the Frightwig print has a collar opening that was too big...

 

[greenmachines]

The button up, not yet aquired, is an 80s print. Looks to be faded as well but here are some inspiration pics... provide any guidance you can on brand or style. I will likely need to make one.

 

[greenmachines]

The sweater is a green gray faux mohair women's sweater. In the museum display pic, it looks purple but is not.

and the buttons....

 

[greenmachines]

The Lanyard is a custom beaded string long enough to drop his, MTV Stage security clearance, badge into his lap. Here are a few shots of his lanyard and badge...

 

[greenmachines]

Left hand has a watch. This is a custom watch he was known to own and is the face of a well known salesman from the area, to the best of my knowledge.

By a small coincidence, the band and the shape of the watch is identical to John Wick's. John's is silver and has a custom brand face as well. I will very likely obtain base watches with matching bands and reprint the faces. I do not currently have the watch. Any sourcing info would be appreciated.

 

[greenmachines]

He is wearing two rings, one left, one right. I have no info on either.

 

[greenmachines]

The pants are of unknown brand but are a wide leg faded denim. The only belt shot I could grab is here. I have not sourced either item.

 

[greenmachines]

The shoes are reported to be these AllStars with handwritten message by Kurt on the toe.

and the pics from the event are pretty poor but seem to confirm these are the shoes.

 

[greenmachines]

The guitar is this custom and quite famous guitar that I believe was a loan for this event. (Update 8-30-23, not a loan. During the event itself he mentions wanting to borrow Lead Belly's guitar, or purchase it. I confused that comment but this is his own guitar.)

 

[greenmachines]

So, with the addition of the buttons (not yet attached), this is what I have so far (I made the security tag in photoshop, laminated it, added external printed ID label and beaded my lanyard):

 

[greenmachines]

The Frightwig band tshirt is readily available online with just a search for "Frightwig tshirt". If you wish to match the event clothing that Kurt wears, buy a women's boat neck, one to two sizes larger, to layer over another plain white men's crewneck in your correct size.

 

[greenmachines]

Left hand has a watch. This is a custom watch he was known to own and is the face of a well known salesman from the area, to the best of my knowledge.

View attachment 1724246View attachment 1724247View attachment 1724248


By a small coincidence, the band and the shape of the watch is identical to John Wick's. John's is silver and has a custom brand face as well. I will very likely obtain base watches with matching bands and reprint the faces. I do not currently have the watch. Any sourcing info would be appreciated.

Wanted to update this with some searchable info. The person on the watch face is Tom Peterson. He was Oregon's original "shouty man", TV and radio pitchman. These watches were only distributed locally as gimmick promotional items via Tom and his ever expanding sales empire. I do not know the story behind Kurt's ownership but the highest likelihood is another thrift store purchase. If you see one these days, it is one of thousands on the wrist of a Cobain fan. Even replicas are sold for hundreds but are thrift watches with a new printed face plate. A nice worthy project which I will be taking on shortly.

 

[greenmachines]

OK, a bit emotionally charged on this one. I keep seeing people show a gator style band on this watch but I am not willing to view the original picture they are referring too. So, my dillema is this, I found pics of Kurt wearing a different band, one with stripes (below). Anyone able to confirm the real watch band?

 

[greenmachines]

Also, not part of my MTV Unplugged cosplay build but fun along the way. Kurt often played around with hats and glasses and just enjoyed being goofy. I got these glasses today and if they aren't spot on, they are surely close enough...

 

[greenmachines]

My base watch came in the mail today. It is a Sun Time like the original Peterson, so I will only need to print the watch face and assemble. Here is my new race watch next to an example of a repro Peterson watch:

Because I am not completely convinced it always had a gator band anyway, I will stick with the regular leather band it came with. And, as always, the "OK at pose distance" applies here. It only needs to be a black watch band.

A bit of history here too. My favorite, ever, performance was the MTV Unplugged and Kurt's rendition of "In the Pines" or a.k.a. "Where did you sleep last night". This is the driving force behind why I wanted to put all of this together. I have never been interested in doing video with any of my cosplays but with this one, I will sing this song. I will likely never post it but I will record it for myself and then I can watch it and appreciate the incredible stress he must have been under performing this song. A song he was not asked to sing and was even asked not to because MTV wanted to hear Nirvana favorites. But Kurt wanted to honor his personal heroes and inspirational singers so he knocked this one out of the park with a hair-raisingly emotional rendition that was Cobain to its core. The guitar he spoke of at the event (not the one he played- note my error earlier in thinking it was borrowed) was the guitar of the singer Lead Belly who had also sung this song.

 

[MaxPower89]

The shoes are reported to be these AllStars with handwritten message by Kurt on the toe.

View attachment 1724252


and the pics from the event are pretty poor but seem to confirm these are the shoes.

View attachment 1724254View attachment 1724255View attachment 1724256

Kurt is wearing Converse Jack Purcells, not the Chuck Taylor All Stars. You can tell by the black bar on the front of the toes. He wore them a lot in that era.

Also, be yourself. That’s what Kurt would say.

 

[greenmachines]

Finished my watch today. Still following my "good enough at pose distance" (this is another printed sticker face, not a working version - printed then covered in packing tape):

Found some better pics of the original and the band is definitely a gator type print but at each end it is the slats portion of the pattern and not the fake blob print seen on most replicas...

 

[greenmachines]

My today's thrift store addition: