When a gifted artist dies too young, it’s something of a sad pastime to consider what they might be doing if they were alive today. Such speculation is silly and borderline irresponsible – who are we to pretend we know anything about someone else’s inner life or desires – but regardless of how you feel, there’s no denying it’s impossible.
Mostly.
We couldn’t possibly guess at the person Nirvana front-man Kurt Cobain might be, or the art – musical or otherwise – that he might be producing, had he lived. But we can reasonably assume that he would continue to love his daughter, Frances Bean, who was not even two years old when her troubled, talented father committed suicide.
She certainly still loves him, despite only having known him for a very short time, and recently she showed her love for her legendary father by sharing some of his artwork with the world. But she didn’t merely post her father’s drawings on Instagram, instead, she incorporated it into her own art and created a fashion line based on Kurt’s work.
The clothing line is called “Kurt was here” and features 50 limited edition pieces, including t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatshirts adorned with her father’s sketches and artwork.
The collection is available at Barneys in the USA and Selfridges in the UK, or you can visit the website, Kurt Cobain Shop, and snag some there.
The items aren’t exactly cheap. A hoodie designed with Kurt’s sketch of a pumpkin-headed man affixed to a crucifix is a cool $69, a t-shirt featuring a drawing of a skeleton will run you $39. The site describes it thusly:
This premium Kurt Cobain T-shirt is meant to embody the artist in the most authentic way possible, with his unaltered artwork as the primary design element. It features an original drawing by Kurt, imperfections left intact, on a white, heavy-cotton T-shirt. The distressed fabric gives it comfortable, worn-in feel. This is part of a collection hand-selected and curated by Frances Bean Cobain. Unisex.
If you don’t want to wear Cobain’s art, you can go for the $100 coffee table book that collects a whole bunch of it.
“Kurt Cobain’s original artwork has been collected and bound together in one unique and stunning coffee table book. Each piece of apparel featured in this book is adorned with renderings that have been kept as authentic to the originals as possible, making them genuine pieces of wearable art. These one-of-a-kind Kurt Cobain hoodies and T-shirts feature drawings that have never been available before. You will be able to experience the fluidity and potent subject matter as you pass through each page. Step into this unique sensory experience and explore the many layers for yourself.”
The Kurt Was Here clothing line was curated and “designed under the creative direction” of Frances Bean, who is the sole manager of her father’s business entity.
