Camp It Up!

This year’s Met Gala and Academy Awards’ red carpet are serving us camp, camp, and camp. Here’s why the irrepressible fashion movement gained such a fabulous foothold in 2019.

- Allysha Nila

The Costume Institute’s 2019 exhibition “Camp: Notes on Fashion” at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art will not feature utilitarian Moncler windbreakers, Prada camouflage backpacks or Louis Vuitton tents. Those expecting rusticity might be surprised to find quirky slogan t-shirts, trompe l’oeil gowns and flashy headpieces in the shape of flamingos instead.

That’s because the theme is a reference to a 1964 essay by American writer Susan Sontag, called Notes on “Camp”. In it, she defined camp as a sensibility that “converts the serious into the frivolous”. And it is within this contextual setting that curator Andrew Bolton framed this year’s exhibition. “By tracing its evolution and highlighting its defining elements, the show will embody the ironic sensibilities of this audacious style, challenge conventional understandings of beauty and taste, and establish the critical role that this important genre has played in the history of art and fashion,” said Max Hollein, Director of the Met.

In short: It is a cornucopia of everything over-the-top, flamboyant, novel, artificial, and in “bad taste” from designers past and present. But don’t confuse camp for its more sophisticated, artful, and elitist cousin: Ugly chic. Camp is anti-serious and totally unintentional in its motivation. It is a stylistic lens through which we see the world for what it isn’t…in order to see what it truly is. In an era dominated by social media, technology and democracy, camp has finally found its place in mainstream culture and society.

FUN FACTOR