The Guardian Tee by Black Coffiend x Nocturne

THE GUARDIAN HAS ARRIVED.

Created exclusively for Nocturne by Justin Valliere of Black Coffiend in celebration of Salem’s 400th anniversary, The Guardian is now available in store at Nocturne and online while supplies last.

Printed on our customer-favorite Comfort Colors tees, each shirt is locally printed right here in Salem by Lucky House Manufacturing, making this collaboration a little love letter to Salem from beginning to end.

For four years, Justin has helped us tell stories about Salem through some of Nocturne’s most beloved exclusive tees. Each collaboration begins with the history, beauty, darkness, and peculiar magic of the city we love, and Justin transforms those ideas into something unmistakably his own.

For Salem’s 400th anniversary, we wanted to create something particularly special.

Meet The Guardian.

At its center sits a black cat, watchful and knowing, imagined as the mythical keeper of Salem’s history. A silent witness to generations coming and going, carrying the city’s stories, secrets, triumphs, tragedies, and ghosts from one century into the next.

Around The Guardian, Salem unfolds like a memory. Tall ships recall its storied maritime past. Derby Wharf Light keeps watch over the harbor. Historic homes and weathered gravestones remember those who came before us. Candlelight, beloved literature, a crescent moon, and pieces of Salem lore emerge from the darkness, each another thread in the story of a city that has never been only one thing.

Around The Guardian’s neck hangs Nocturne’s lantern, worn like a talisman. A tiny light carried through the centuries, illuminating what came before while keeping watch over the stories still being written.

Rendered in Justin’s unmistakable style with the richness and romance of an antique Victorian illustration, The Guardian feels less like a souvenir and more like an artifact unearthed from the pages of an old Salem book: romantic, mysterious, historical, literary, beautifully strange, and perhaps just a little haunted.

Created for Salem, Massachusetts | 1626–2026, The Guardian celebrates not simply how long Salem has existed, but how many lives this city has lived. Its maritime history and literature. Its architecture and art. Its folklore and ghosts. Its darkness and beauty. And the generations of people who have loved it, shaped it, and carried its stories forward.

Four centuries later, Salem is still becoming. And The Guardian is still watching.

The Guardian
Black Coffiend x Nocturne
Exclusive to Nocturne
Locally printed by Lucky House Manufacturing
Salem, Massachusetts | 2026

Available now in store and online while supplies last.