Following the success of his well-loved Party Animals, Nigel Humphries has centred the iconic teddy bear as the subject for his May 2025 collection. Dressing the anthropomorphic bears in the style of different subcultures, the artist uses layered sentimentality to evoke strong feelings of nostalgia. The quintessential childhood teddy bear and the aesthetics of subculture movements combine to create a broader cultural nostalgia for bygone eras in a whimsical and playful way. Teddy bears are deeply ingrained symbols of comfort and innocence, so their recontextualization into these subcultures is thought-provoking.

A hybrid of real and toy animals, the bears are incredibly expressive, using just their eyes and the angle of their heads to communicate with the viewer. Although the bears are all the same size and design, Humphries gave each of them its own personality through their individual aesthetic. We see piercings, hats, tattoos, and colourful hair amongst other accessories. Wanting to retain the ‘toyish’ look of the bears, Humphries chose not to clothe them, instead experimenting with a new concept of adding design elements into the fur itself. The artist hopes that these intricate details allow the viewer to relate to the bears as adults, whilst being reminded of memories from their youth.