Almost exactly two years to the day since he died, Michael Jackson’s iconic leather jacket which he wore in the film clip for his breakthrough 1982 hit Thriller, has sold for an eye watering $1.8 million at auction in the upmarket Los Angeles suburb of Beverley Hills. The red and black jacket was sold by Julien’s Auctions on Sunday to Milton Verret, a commodities trader from Austin, Texas, who paid well over the expected $200-$400,000 price tag. It is believed that the purchaser intends to use the jacket as a fundraising tool, taking it out on tour to raise money for children’s charities.
In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t yet witnessed the glorious 80s goodness of Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video, Jackson and his zombie henchmen were decked out in what the auctioneer described as “among the most recognizable and famous garments of the 20th century.” It certainly sparked a craze for similar jackets and you couldn’t go to certain nightclubs in Australia in the mid 1980s without seeing people wearing copies of it. (Ahem, we’re looking at you, all those people that used to hang out at Razor nightclub in Melbourne circa 1983…)
Anyhow, for your taste of what type of jacket is worth $1.8 million, check out the ‘Thriller’ video below.
