Meet fashion designer and all-around creator Cass Hoverson — also known as Crummy.
In the living room of her Phoenix apartment on a hot afternoon, and we’re surrounded by her work, which makes it feel a little like you’ve entered a different world.
With making people giggle as a central goal, Hoverson has built up her clothing brand, Crummy, with a sense of the weird.
Whether it’s a truly giant jacket, pants with fingers reaching toward the floor, or a shirt with eight functional sleeves. Case in point: A 6-foot-tall shirt in baby blue with a fuzzy fur collar.
LAUREN GILGER: And now it's time for the latest edition in our series featuring local creatives and makers made in Arizona.
Today, meet fashion designer and all around creator Cass Hoverson AKA Crummy. How many hours do you think a week you spend sitting here listening to that sound?
CASS HOVERSON: More than a 9 to 5. I can tell you that we're in the living room of her Phoenix apartment on a hot afternoon and we're surrounded by her work, which makes it feel a little like you've entered into a different world.
So right now I'm really into totes and so I'm just making a bunch of silly little totes and this one specifically, I'm gonna label all the pockets, kind of unconventional things like secrets and elixir and things like that. Just to make people giggle a little bit. That's my main goal. With all of my projects!
GILGER: With making people giggle as a central goal, Hoverson has built up her clothing brand Crummy with a sense of the weird whether it's a truly giant jacket, pants with fingers reaching toward the floor or a shirt with eight functional sleeves.
HOVERSON: My craft is kind of my escape from reality and I like to create a world where people can step in and question their own reality and I like to play with proportions. So that's kind of inspired some, these projects.
GILGER: Case in point a six foot tall shirt in baby blue with a fuzzy fur collar.
HOVERSON: This was made to be kind of a backdrop for a dressing booth that I was kind of manning. So I wanted people to be able to interact with the shirt and, you know, put their heads inside the buttons and just play around with it. Because this, I made this for show where the theme was the power of play. So I took it quite literally.
GILGER: Quite literally. I mean, you do have a lot of fun with the work that you do, it sounds like.
HOVERSON: Yeah, I mean, why do something that's not fun? I'm like, you wanna get in this shirt?
GILGER: I kinda do.
So, I mean, I, I think that sounds like, it connects really to why you got into this to begin with. Like, you've been sewing most of your life it sounds like. But it was a pandemic thing, right? Where you sort of switched paths and said, like, you know what I'm gonna do what I like.
HOVERSON: Yeah, exactly. I was like the pandemic kind of put everything in perspective to me. And I said, oh, you know, we are pretty fragile and the world is gonna end eventually. So, why don't I just do what I love to do.
GILGER: What do you love about it?
HOVERSON: I just love the freedom and creativity. I like to feel that there's no limits to what I can do and I'm very grateful to have the tools and resources I have so I can create an alternate reality basically.
GILGER: So I wanna turn you around here and look at this big shelf full of different materials you work with only found materials, essentially stuff you get at thrift shops, Goodwill.
HOVERSON: Yeah, exactly. I feel like there's enough material in the world for us to have everything we need. So there's no need to indulge in new materials.
GILGER: There's got to be a challenge in that though. Right? Because you're not starting with a blank slate, you're starting with something that already is made into something. So you're taking it apart. I see like a ton of jeans here, right? That you've cut up and you turn them into something else.
HOVERSON: Yeah, exactly. And it can be limiting sometimes, but also more so I would say I get inspired by second hand materials because, you know, I could go in the shower curtain aisle and find a shower curtain that inspires a project from that, from the shower curtain being so wacky.
GILGER: Ok, so we have to talk about this piece that you have out here too because it's a jacket with a collar. But then how many, how many sleeves are here?
HOVERSON: Let's count three, four, five, six, seven, eight sleeves.
GILGER: So is the idea that you could choose whichever sleeve you wanna put your arms through?
HOVERSON: Yeah, exactly. You know, if you get bored with one sleeve or need to like if you wanna switch it up a little bit, you got options, someone who is had a newborn baby actually tried it on and she's like this would be perfect for breastfeeding.
GILGER: So it's so it's whimsical. You're kind of playing with these ideas of clothing, restructuring them. What kinds of reactions do you get from folks?
HOVERSON: Kind of all over the board. Some people kind of look at it and kind of like give a forced smile and walk away but other people get really into it, you know, just like they get inspired from, you know, experiencing a little taste of my world. So that's cool.
GILGER: Do you feel like you're kind of letting them into your world when you do this and when you make these pieces, is it, is it an entrance point?
HOVERSON: Yeah, definitely. That's the goal. It's a good way to put it, a little portal.
GILGER: I want to ask a little bit about your approach to this. Like when you have an idea, I asked this, of musicians often, how do they start a song? Is it the lyric? Is it a picture? Is it a tune in their head? So when you're approaching clothing or you know, an accessory, like a tote, where does the idea begin for you? Is it the material that you collect and have, you know, a bunch of here?
HOVERSON: Yeah, I would say I get inspired a lot by material. But also sometimes it starts with a doodle. I could just take my pen and just doodle around and then that's how the anti anxiety chair you know, came in came to be was just for me doodling.
GILGER: So, yeah, describe this for us.
HOVERSON: Yeah. For some reason, I really like to humanize things. Even like at my old apartment, I had eyeballs and I put a wig on my door. I just, I don't know why.
But so this chair is kind of in alignment with that. I put a wig on it and I made some big exaggerated arms and hands and stuffed them.
So then when you sit in it, you can bring the arms around your body and give yourself a hug and then I put fur on the seat. So there's like that sensory element. And so I like to call it the anti anxiety chair, three elements like when you sit in it, you know, you'll feel a little better.
GILGER: So, so your work goes beyond clothing, it sounds like.
HOVERSON: Yeah, I like to, I'm kind of trying to get outside of the fashion designer box that I've kind of put myself in and I am trying to explore other avenues like furniture design and sculptures and things because these also bring me pleasure as well and it's a whole, I just like to create in 3D. So things like this I think are really fun.
GILGER: So to you, it doesn't matter if somebody wears it, it's about somebody experiencing it in kind of a more complete way.
HOVERSON: Exactly, yeah.
GILGER: How did you get into sewing it? I mean, a young age, it sounds like.
HOVERSON: Yeah, my grandma taught all of the females in our family to sew and when we all turned 12 for Christmas, we all got a sewing machine for a Christmas present. So, yeah, I kind of just stuck with it and I started making clothes seriously in 2020.
GILGER: Do you remember the first piece that you made or like the first thing you put together in that moment in, in the pandemic when you know everyone's stuck at home and you decide, you know, screw it, I'm gonna do what I love.
HOVERSON: Yeah, it was kind of just a, just a basic shirt. But I think it quickly, within the first couple of months turned to, like, you know, sewing little eyeballs and making like a million eyeballs on a shirt. And, you know, things like that. I really started pushing the boundaries early on.
GILGER: So I wonder this with fashion especially. And if you're looking at, like, creating lifestyle stuff as well, where do you wanna take it?
HOVERSON: It's a good question. I'm kind of taking it day by day. I think my ultimate goal would be bigger scale because I kind of see myself as a creator versus a fashion designer.
So I would love to be able to kind of curate or like create mini meow wolf esque type.
GILGER: It's definitely a meow wolf vibe here. Ok, I can see that. What do you, what do you mean when you say installations?
HOVERSON: You know how I, how I like to say, you know, I'm kind of creating my own little reality or own little world. I want to take that more of a literal sense and create an installation where people can come and experience things and touch things and interact with things. I think that would be really beautiful to see because I really do get joy of people interacting with my stuff and like seeing a smile on their face. I think life shouldn't be taken too seriously. So I like to create whimsical things to remind people of that.
GILGER: I love it. Well, thank you so much, Cass for having us. I really appreciate you showing us around.
HOVERSON: Yeah, thank you for taking the time, I appreciate it.
GILGER: That was my conversation with Cass Hoverson, the creator behind Crummy. She'll be hosting a workshop on the Fast Fashion world at Scottsdale's Canal Convergence this Sunday, Nov. 10.