“I always enjoyed the weirder, spooky stuff,” Carter Cupp, designer of The Boogeyman’s Closet, said as he shared his biggest influences for his eerily chic looks.
The Boogeyman’s Closet started solely as an online vintage resell store that has quickly developed into an upcycled brand. When Cupp first started, he used vintage pieces, inspired by skating and growing up in Texas. The Fort Worth native ironically was tired of western wear when he first moved to Colorado two years ago.
“That’s what I’ve always seen, growing up around hillbillies and cowboys,” Cupp said. “I was sick of it.”
However, seeing Colorado’s fashion scene and take on western wear opened his mind. “Being away from the traditional Western styles helped me appreciate the culture more,” he said.
Cupp’s other design influence, skating, came into his life right before COVID.
“We sucked for a long time and sometimes still do, but skating showed me a different community of people I wasn’t normally seeing in Texas,” he said.
He became fascinated by skaters’ clothes especially how each skater looks different but they still have the confidence to wear exactly what they want. Skating also taught him valuable life lessons he’s utilized in his design process. Though he felt inexperienced when he first started skating, it taught him persistence.
“Skating taught me that you are gonna fall on your face 10,000 times and you either practice it 10,000 times or just give up,” Cupp said. “Odds are though — one of those times you’re going to get it.”
He equates his persistence in skating to the creative process he goes through in designing. The designer is now pushing over 100 pieces in his portfolio and said he thinks “a lot of them suck.” However, it’s through persistence in design that he has also cultivated what he refers to as “masterpieces.”
“If I had made something I didn’t like and then just gave up, I would have never made it to the pieces I love,” he said. “Ultimately, I don’t feel like I have any true natural talents. I feel like the natural talent I have is to work hard to get what I want.”
The Birth of Boogeyman’s Closet & The Hause Collective Collaboration
Initially, when the designer was brainstorming names he was leaning towards something revolving around “Mothman,” playing off what might be found in a closet. Cupp continued to tweak his brand image using drawings and Venn-diagram-type sketches, coming up with other quirky titles like Slinky Winky.
Then one day he noticed a small goblin-monster-like figurine sitting on his desk, he realized the figurine resembled the classic Stephen King’s, “Boogeyman,” giving us The Boogeyman’s Closet.
Before the Boogeyman’s Closet emerged, he was a part of The Hause Collective.
He met the owners, Liz Lawrence and Chelsea Drew. They coordinated the Dear Summer Fest Music Festival two months after moving to Colorado. He brought a camera, asked attendees what their favorite summer memories were and recorded the responses — the rest is history.
The Hause Collective is a series of vintage stores that aim to support local artisans, entrepreneurs, and makers by providing space to showcase their work. The Hause Collective now has five locations — two in Colorado Springs (The Hause Collective & The Hause Thrift & Lounge), two in Charlotte, North Carolina (The Hause Collective & Style Hause), and one location in Las Vegas (The Hause Collective).
Each store offers unique thrift clothing, custom upcycled items, handmade art, and accessories.
After a couple of months of selling online, he reached out to Lawrence and Drew in hopes of selling his pieces at one of their stores. Now, The Boogeyman’s Closet has developed into a brand that uses upcycling and sells limited items at The Hause Collective at Citadel Mall.
Currently, his section includes custom items along with creepy decor matching the aesthetic of the brand. Cupp’s marketing approach is to draw people in by weirding them out.
“When people walk into a vintage store and see fake dead fish and snake skeletons hanging off the wall, they think ‘What the fuck is the boogeyman’s closet?” he said. “But then it draws their eye to my designs.”
A few months later, The Hause Collective’s dynamic duo asked the designer to collaborate on a collection for Denver Fashion Week’s Spring 2023 Sustainability show. Drew, Lawrence, and Cupp each styled five looks featuring western-inspired ensembles.
READ: Creative and Sustainable: The Hause Collective at Denver Fashion Week
“I could not have done my first Fashion Week without Liz and Chelsea,” Cupp said.“I was horrified, but seeing people wear my designs down the runway made it all worth it.”
Vintage & Sustainable Efforts
Getting his start with The Hause Collective, it’s only natural that the designer continues to draw inspiration from vintage clothing. He discussed the rare opportunities that exist within sustainability, rather than seeing it as a new industry expectation. The designer described how the various shapes and structures used throughout the decades inspired him. He loves experimenting with the juxtaposition of styling items from different periods together.
Cupp is often drawn to suits, jackets, and workwear when looking for items to upcycle. For his first show with The Hause Collective, he reworked a teal western jacket that was well-loved, worn and worked in. He sewed a bandana on the back of it and gave new life to the beloved jacket.
“My thought process when it comes to sustainability is [that] we can keep making new clothes, or we can take from this huge pile of clothes that already exist and remake into our own thing,” Cupp said.
Due to its strength and durability, Cupp gravitates towards vintage leather. While he admitted he’s far from a textile expert, he’s able to tell when an item was well put together. Cupp once found a beautifully built leather jacket at the Goodwill bins, however, the pockets were blown out and the entire lining was filled with cigarette butts. He assumed it must’ve been some old biker’s jacket and while it was filthy —the unforeseen potential excited him.
“I hated seeing something so great in that kind of condition so I had to fix it,” he said.
He cut the lining of the jacket out, vacuumed, disinfected, and scrubbed everything out. He then cut the pockets out, resewed new pockets back in, and sewed a seam back on. Cupp said he loves the thrill of taking something once headed for the landfill and making it fit for a runway.
Music, Movie & TV Influences
The designer attributed the cohesiveness in Frostbite to the authentic variety of people, “I think that giving variety creates a natural cohesiveness,” he said.
Cupp compared the diversity in models to the childhood series, “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Kids,” a Cartoon Network series based on a home filled with different dreamt-up figures. Utilizing people in Cupp’s everyday life as models gave a natural harmony to the collection.
“They’re all just a bunch of weirdos and all my favorite people I’ve met since moving to Colorado,” he said.
Most of his designs and branding inspiration come from shows he used to be scared of like “The Twilight Zone.” He also used some childhood fears, like the SpongeBob parody episode of Nosferatu, “Squidferatu” as inspiration. These fears from nostalgic shows fueled Cupp’s imagery for The Boogeyman’s Closet business cards.
Cupp said certain images get stuck in peoples’ heads for strange reasons. He referenced his dad showing him the movie “Ghostbusters,” when he was younger. The designer said even now, the opening library scene still haunts him.
“It scared me shitless,” he said. “I still can’t shake that feeling sometimes, I think that’s why it [horror] interests me.”
Cupp described how choosing scary media in his designs forces him to interact with the frightening illusions, “I’m staring at these creepy aspects for at least a couple of hours, so it’s terrifying but it feels like I’m reclaiming it,” The designer said.
Watching his musician friends’ stage personalities come to life inspires Cupp to embrace a brand image that doesn’t reflect his personality. When he first started developing The Boogeyman’s Closet, he realized he was creating an alter ego.
“The Boogeyman is supposed to be this badass, terrifying cigarette-smoking cowboy,” Cupp said. “The Boogeyman loves scary movies and I can’t watch a scary movie to save my life.”
Throughout his runway shows and video projects — music is always the starting point.
Cupp said that if he could dress any musician it would be San Francisco Bay-area rapper Ramirez, who’s often collaborated with Suicideboys. As a fan of most G59 RECORD$ artists, he described the dark yet fun rap that influences him.
READ: Stepping to the Beat: 6 Denver Fashion Week Designers On Choosing Runway Music
“I would love to style Ramirez because he makes music you would assume the Boogeyman listens to,” Cupp said.
He shared that when he hears something that inspires him he’s able to visualize a story — he finds aesthetics relating to music and develops design details accordingly.
“I can close my eyes while listening to music and picture how I want everything to look during the set,” he said.
Ten days after debuting Frostbite, Cupp said that he heard a song on the drive home from work leading him to visualize his Fall 2024 collection, “I think it’s important to follow your intuition when you feel something roll with it.”
To keep his upcoming Fall collection a surprise, Cupp shared only one other clue, “I put the music together recently for my Fall show and all I can say is it’ll be a real pity party.”
Frostbite Analysis & Next Moves
The following season Cupp debuted his first solo collection at DFW, Frostbite, which featured 16 looks total, with predominately all-black ensembles and two looks using small pops of colors.
Carter focused on different shapes, styling one model in football pads and others in more slender form-fitting looks. Cupp attributed these stylistic choices to the futuristic and Victorian goth style, referencing Playboy Cardi and “opium core.” Other looks included accessories like Cyclops monoblock sunglasses, pink fur boots, and large cowboy hats.
READ: What You Missed At DFW Night Four: Streetwear and Sneakers
The designer has kept his finger on the pulse when it comes to ever-evolving goth styles, meeting the want to return to traditionally masculine structure and heavy layering.
Moving forward into Cupp’s next upcoming Fall 2024 DFW show, he’s reflecting heavily on the exhilaration of his past runway shows.
“It’s strange to put in months of work for an eight-minute show, and once it’s over, all that’s left are pictures, videos, and stories,” he said. The designer shared how critiques and praises following the show were either beneficial or harmful to his creative development.
“It’s important to acknowledge the things that you could have done better, acknowledge the things that you did great, and just reflect for a little bit,” Cupp said.
He lets himself ride the high of a runway show, but once the hype dies down — he embraces the unknown. The creative reflected and said that those limbo phases bring out some of his best work.
Through Frostbite, Cupp developed a new revelation — he loves the intoxicating feeling of empowering people through his designs. In his past collection, he lit up seeing models straighten up and stand straighter after putting on their looks.
“I can physically see something I made making them feel positive,” Cupp said.
With so much negativity in the world, he has always loved making people in his life feel good, whether that be through video creation or designing. “I love hyping people up and empowering them,” he said said.
Though he wants to continue making powerful pieces that make wearers confident, he also wants to create things that he’s never made before. Cupp’s eager to play around with more color because in previous collections it was something he strayed away from.
Social Media Break
Balancing a small business in the age of social media with mental health can be tricky. Cupp said that when he started The Boogeyman’s Closet, he was checking social media daily — it easily became a part of his everyday routine.
He doesn’t believe social media is evil per se, but rather a tool that reflects our daily habits.
In an overly filtered and edited world, the creative says he tries his best to remain authentic on his social platforms. He does one take when posting a video or photo, even if he messes up, and feels this helps keep a genuine bond with his followers. Cupp hopes these efforts will keep him humble, approachable, and connected.
“That’s the classic story, some guy was cool for a while, then he started doing bigger stuff and became a dickhead,” he said.“I never want to do that, even on social media.”
Over the past two years, The Boogeyman’s Closet has gained over 1,300 followers.
“I’m doing things that hypothetically should fuel my ego: meeting cool people, doing fashion shows, getting praised, but it wasn’t long ago I was in Texas smoking and skateboarding — times can change quickly,” Cupp said.
It’s with this mindset that the edgy designer decided to take some time off social media to detox and reset his goals.
“I just wanted to take a step away and reevaluate my intentions,” Cupp said.
Cupp loves to connect with people via social media and credits online communities to a lot of his brand’s growth. Once he returns to public platforms he hopes to use them as a beneficial tool to continue growing The Boogeyman’s Closet.