Nocturnal Antiques

[Reposted from May 23rd 2022]

What’s up y’all. 

Stephen here.

I welcome you to Nocturnal Antiques — CRMY's Spring/Summer 22 concept collection. 

So what does it all mean and how did it come about? 

Nocturnal Antiques has been a long time coming. Spring 2021, I set aside a bunch of shirts that fit a desert color palette — you know, a lot of browns, oranges, yellows, and greens. Creamy was fresh off our Circling Earth collection, so I was in a very “earth” inspired mood. Around this time, I also watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Nocturnal Animals. All of these influences at the time were leading me down a desert, psychedelic/surrealist path. 

The name Nocturnal Antiques clearly was influenced by the movie title Nocturnal Animals.  Like… I’m not going to pretend that it’s not haha. There is something about adding the word nocturnal before another word that adds an alluring and ominous aura. I’m not sure what made me add “antiques” after “nocturnal,” but I just remember the name sticking in my brain as a good title for a collection. 

In general, I think the idea of an antique store that’s open at night is interesting – all the eerie vibes and whatnot. Like come on, you know some of the pieces in the antique store are gonna be possessed by something. That’s really where Nocturnal Antiques comes from - the idea of a 24-hour antique store. For the collection, I imagined a store that has this strange amusement park/desert/midwest/surrealist vibe (yeah I know that’s a mouthful - I’m learning how to write well again). Nocturnal Antiques specializes in antique games, sculptures, art, home goods, signs, and outdoor decor. The store would be located somewhere outside of Las Vegas or Pigeon Forge… you know, somewhere very touristy and trashy… the stank smell of desperation and doom in the air. 

Through this store concept - I tried to channel the emotions I felt when visiting strange touristy places and flea markets as a kid. Growing up, our family would always go to these types of places for fun. Trader’s World is one specific place that we always made one or two yearly trips to. It’s the place we learned to barter with vendors, and really hunt for grails - clothing and hard goods. I remember vintage Marvel Legend action figures were something I highly sought after… 

Besides actually going to places, I was generally fascinated by different roadside attractions. Since our family went on a ton of road trips — I was constantly looking out the window at the passing American landscape. The more bizarre the building, sign, or business I saw — the more I was intrigued. There’s something about using the surreal or the bizarre to catch someone’s attention that I’ve always loved — which probably makes sense if you look at Creamy’s art...  

If you’re interested in the mood board I created for this collection, you can check it out here). 

So if I came up with the concept of Nocturnal Antiques in the spring of 2021… why is it being dropped in the spring/summer of 2022? 

Well… there are a lot of factors that go into answering that question. Mainly, I only had the overarching idea for the collection down; the fine details and a fully developed concept for the collection didn’t feel fleshed out yet. In addition, the timing of the collection seemed off. Over the summer of 2021, we moved to Columbus, OH, and then had multiple other projects that we prioritized instead. 

However, we still airbrushed and printed shirts for Nocturnal Antiques in the late summer of 2021. We even shot some footage at Trader’s World with plans to drop the collection that fall. However, by the time we thought we were ready to drop the collection - it was mid-November and the whole thing felt unfinished and out of place. 

So, we shelved the pieces until now.

When we relooked at the pieces created last summer for Nocturnal Antiques - we realized our style and work had evolved way beyond what we had previously done. So, we had to rework almost every piece. By reworking the pieces and with the weather warming - all the puzzle pieces fell together. I started to feel inspired by the same influences that moved me a year ago. Suddenly, Nocturnal Antiques came to life more than they had previously. Our pieces are stronger, more cohesive, and thought-out. We reshot the collection at Trader’s World again with our friends Myles and Isaiah - this time with more focus on styling outfits to go along with each Creamy piece. 

As a whole, this is our most thought-out collection since Hell on Earth (our Halloween 2021 collection). Which would make sense… since we’ve been sitting on it for more than a year. 

At the end of the day, Nocturnal Antiques is an exploration into the bizarre roadside attractions and tourist traps that lure you in even though you know it’s just a scam. It’s an homage to the vendors and the collectors - to the people who sell second-hand goods at markets, the independent creators promoting their work, and the people looking for unique goods to buy. It’s a nod to the overpriced antique stores that never have AC in the summers. 

And it’s another attempt by me to explore and express American surrealism. 

I hope you enjoy the collection, which drops this Sunday (May 29th) at 6 PM EST. 

That’s all folks! 

Stephen