When fashion goes ‘camp’

The 2019 Met Gala celebrated the excesses of exaggeration.

WITH the theme “Camp: Notes On Fashion”, the 2019 Met Gala provided the chance for guests to really go all out and have fun with their outfits.

It also celebrated the excesses of exaggeration and love of the unnatural when it comes to the fashion industry.

The corresponding exhibition (running until Sept 8, 2019, at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art) looks at how fashion has been used as both a form of expression and escapism throughout history.

“Camp is by nature subversive... confronting and challenging the status quo,” the Costume Institute’s head curator, Andrew Bolton, said at a press event before the gala.

“In the end, the purpose of camp is to put a smile on our faces and a warm glow in our hearts. We’re experiencing a resurgence of camp – not just in fashion, but in culture in general.”

Some of the items on display include the “swan dress” worn by Bjork to the Oscars, a glittering costume spotted on flamboyant singer Liberace and a shower head necklace designed by the late Karl Lagerfeld for Chloe in the 1980s.

This year’s theme is borrowed from writer Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes On Camp”, published in Partisan Review, which codified and mainstreamed the cultural connotations of the word “camp”.

As Sontag aptly notes, clothes are frequently seen as the vehicle for a camp sensibility.

To put it in another way, however – camp, in millennial speak, is simply the art of being “extra”.

There is probably no theme more fitting for Lady Gaga than camp. The star made an appearance wearing a voluminous bright pink dress that she shed on the red carpet to reveal three other outfits. — Photos: agencies

Ezra Miller’s look was theatrical, to say the least. it was also outright trippy. in a plain suit, he carblank-face ried around a mask. Underneath it, he revealed his true face, painted with five eyechanneling balls.

a drag queen, Lupita Nyong’o wore a see-through sparkly gown and rainbow-coloured wings. in addition, she sported gold picks in her afro and a rainbow fluffy fan.

Lighting up the red carpet was Katy Perry – literally. She was dressed as a chandelier, complete with lit bulbs and draped, dangling crystal beading.

Janelle Monae turned to Picasso and dali for inspiration. Her surreal outfit included asymmetrical sleeves and a tower of hats stacked haphazardly.

a beige suit with a sheer overlay, blue cowboy boots and sheer blue turtleneck. Cody Fern definitely delivered when it comes to the theme. you’ll have to admit, it can’t get more camp than what he wore.

Jared Leto caused a commotion by showing up with a severed head. The red gown and body jewellery he wore made quite a statement, but somehow they didn’t matter, eclipsed by what he carried in his arms.