Luxury brand Saint Laurent is selling arguably the world’s most expensive Nirvana merchandise and, needless to say, fans aren’t happy.
The new selection comes under the brand’s new “Vintage” range and sees various Kurt Cobain-inspired t-shirts for sale, priced between $990 and $4,450 (£770 and £3,857). The most expensive of which is a faded black tee, which bears the artwork of their 1992 compilation album, ‘Incesticide’.
While it is unsurprising that anything from Saint Laurent is going to have a much higher price point than any garments found on the high street – or in this case, the merch stands – it is important to note that the Nirvana t-shirts aren’t actually manufactured by the brand.
Instead, each of the garments is an actual piece of Nirvana merchandise, which has been acquired and upsold by the fashion house.
Highsnobiety discussed the range on Instagram and explained that while the price tags may seem shocking, some vintage merchandise is becoming more collectable and capable of fetching a lot of money.
“In Saint Laurent’s defense, some vintage T-shirts are worth their weight in gold,” the post read. “Part of the demand fueling the retro rock tee boom in the mid-2010s was that authentic, decades-old band tees are rare enough to become collectable, especially in wearable condition.”
Vintage t-shirt re-seller Burned Out also poked fun at the new range on its social media platform, writing (via The Line Of Best Fit): “4x market value markup for it to come in a $.5 plastic YSL bag lol.” While another ’90s rock icon – Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon – weighed in on the discussion, sharing an image of one of the t-shirts with the caption: “Sick! So punk!”.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of Nirvana fans are less than impressed with the high prices of the t-shirts – with many highlighting the hypocrisy of it being tied to Kurt Cobain’s name.
“Kurt was mad at 50$ ticket prices. he would be even more angry at this,” one wrote, while another agreed, saying: “KC currently spinning in his grave at 45 rpm”.
“Ysl selling nirvana shirt for $4,000? This is the opposite of what Kurt would have wanted. He thought $20 was too much for a concert ticket,” a third wrote on Twitter, and another stated: “4K for YSL nirvana shirt? That shit better come with a signed note from Kurt Cobain RIP with today’s date, idc.” Check out more fan responses below.
Ysl selling nirvana shirt for $4,000? This is the opposite of what Kurt would have wanted. He thought $20 was too much for a concert ticket
— SIN 𖤐35 DAYS TILL RITUAL𖤐 (@SeoinLee5) July 19, 2023
4K for YSL nirvana shirt? That shit better come with a signed note from Kurt Cobain RIP with today’s date, idc.
— 𝕸𝖊𝖓𝖆𝖈𝖊
(@Minamillion93) July 19, 2023
YSL reselling vintage nirvana t’s for asinine ass prices is pretty gross.
— Jas (@jasjahne) July 19, 2023
What the actual F**k?!? https://t.co/in1xHn1CWI
Who owns the rights for YSL to be able to make and sell these? #CourtneyLove? #FrancesBean? #DaveGrohl? #Nirvana
Kurt must be rolling in his grave…— Annie-Claude Laguë (@Rouquine) July 18, 2023
this is funny. from what i can tell saint laurent rive droite is literally selling actual vintage nirvana merch at insane markup, this isn’t a repro but looks exactly like the forever 21 version https://t.co/7Bo63diJxl pic.twitter.com/vkJXA6Z0Hu
— Dude York (@DudeYork) July 19, 2023
This is far from the first time that an item related to the grunge icon has gone on to fetch an impressive amount of money in recent years.
Back in 2021, the frontman’s 1959 acoustic guitar, used during the band’s iconic MTV Unplugged set – sold at auction for over $6million (£4.85million), making it one of the most expensive pieces of music memorabilia ever sold.
Additionally, back in May, a smashed Fender Stratocaster used by the musician also went to auction and sold for $600,000 (£480,000).
In other Kurt Cobain news, back in April, Courtney Love remembered her husband on the 29th anniversary of his death.
“I love beautiful hands, it’s the first thing I look at in another,” she wrote, sharing an image of Cobain’s hands, taken by R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe.
“Micheal saw these hands. These left-handed beautiful hands like a votive/ a mudra, a shot this singular, powerful photograph of my twin flame. It is one of the only images (or sounds/ tastes etc) that makes me miss him deeply.”
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