Why did Kurt Cobain wear a dress? Kurt Cobain used fashion to defy gender boundaries. He wore dresses and skirts often, and once stated that he liked florals because “there’s nothing more comfortable than a cosy flower pattern.” There’s no specific reason why Kurt donned dresses other than to communicate the idea that he believed in gender fluidity and didn’t abide by any fashion rules. In fact, most of his clothes came from thrift stores, and he reportedly borrowed dresses from Nirvana’s publicist.

It was written that Kurt was the exact opposite of a “macho” man in U.S. culture: “Kurt Cobain was the an- tithesis of the macho American man. At a time when a body-conscious silhouette was the defining look, he made it cooler to look slouchy and loose, no matter if you were a boy or a girl,”The Fader editor Alex Frank told Vogue in 2014.

Not that this has anything to do with the dresses he wore, but Kurt was known as being a genuine femi- nist, which set him apart from a lot of rockers in the ‘90s. He once gave an interview during which he stat- ed something pretty groundbreaking at the time: Men should be held accountable for rape. At the time, women were being taught how to prevent sexual assault, and Kurt disagreed.

He once said, “The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape. Go to the source and start there.”

Original Design/Illustration © madpaule