best rocker costume

Halloween 1993 was my best costume ever, inspired by a magazine cover with Kurt Cobain cross-dressing.  It was to be Kurt’s last Halloween with us, unfortunately.  But grunge was ruling the airwaves and I found the flannel and hightop sneakers at Value Village, rocking the Macklemore Thrift Shop trend 20 years ago.  With a backwards baseball hat hiding much of my hair and a flair pen adding a stipple of stubble to my chin for a goatee I found myself cross dressing for the day.  It was quite interesting; while walking in downtown Seattle if I chanced to make eye contact with a guy, he would immediately look away.  Normally guys will do a body check on a young female and attempt to make and hold eye contact, so this was an amazing change to be invisible to men for a day, what a delight.

kurt cobain for a day

I counted about two dozen people who were fooled by the costume and did not know it was me.  Half a dozen people thought I was Cobain.  One close friend actually got off the elevator rather than ride with that creepy guy who was grinning at her.   Other women took extra steps to get out of arm’s reach while passing me.  A security guard I knew well was not about to let me enter her building.  A diamond dealer thought he was about to sell a big diamond to a rock star.

At my usual lunch spot, the cooks were whispering “hey that’s Kurt Cobain” as I walked in.  The clerk gave me a dazzling smile and said “What would you like today?” so sweetly that I realized she was flirting with me/Kurt.  She was never that friendly on a regular day.

It was a day of very interesting insights into male – female dynamics.  I realized that as a petite guy it took courage for Kurt to dress in a conspicuous manner.  It was odd to not carry a purse, but men’s clothing has many pockets.  I started the day with a sock stuffed in my underwear so I would remember not to cross my legs and squash my sock.  As the evening ended at a Halloween party I found that the sock had slid way down my leg while dancing, a definite wardrobe malfunction that was fortunately not that noticeable and easy to remedy.

Too bad Kurt did not hang around another year or two as peptic ulcers were found to respond beautifully to antibiotics.  Thank you Mr Cobain, for the excellent tunes and the great memories.