In the case of the 2019 Met Gala, the theme of “Camp” is used to bring light to the cultural influences of the homogeneous and outrageously exaggerated culture we are living in today. The Met Gala’s annual fundraising event was held this past Monday night for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” was chosen to represent and create an atmosphere around the basis of Susan Sontag’s essay Notes on “Camp.”
Sontag is a writer as well as a philosopher, political activist and filmmaker. She was known to write many essays, her first major success was “Notes on ‘Camp’” in 1964. Each year, the curator of the Met Costume Institute, Andrew Bolton, works intensely in order to create the perfect theme for the extravagant event.
To be “Camp” can be described as being “extra,” theatrical, homosexual or exaggerated. The word pertains to many different meanings, but these synonyms seem to be the best for describing the theme of this year’s Met Gala. The goal was to reach a theme that fits with the cultural and political world we are seeing around us today.
Sontag once described “Camp” as a “love of the unnatural,” an exaggeration and something that could be seen through the style one wears. Many spoke on the fact that homogeneous camp can sometimes not be seen in a positive light, but this event gave flamboyance and difference dignity and power.
The pieces worn by the attendees represented literal works of art that silently spoke out about the culture we are in today and showed how beautiful it truly is. The guests did a great job at dressing for the theme and using camp as a way of art to help expand on the influence it has on our current culture. There were also around 200 historical fashion objects on exhibition for the guests to view while at the Gala. Each piece of art was representative of what this year’s Gala was portraying to its viewers.
Lady Gaga, a co-host of the event, was seen pulling off four different looks throughout the night. Each look had its own creative, outrageous and playful theme that fit perfectly with the far-from-natural theme of the night. She was dressed in bright colors, fabrics that created wild silhouettes and amazing eye accessories, like many of the other guests. Hot pink seemed to be one of the main neon colors seen that night as it was worn by many trendy fashion icons. Some, like Janelle Monae, wore a pop of pink throughout their outfit. Others, like Kacey Musgraves, went for a head-to-toe hot pink ensemble.
Billy Porter made sure he was not to be missed as he was carried in by six shirtless men wearing gold accessories and pants. Porter’s look included a 10-foot set of wings, 24-karat gold headpiece, 24-karat gold eye accessories, as well as a beautiful cape. Capes and eye accessories or extreme eye makeup were two very popular accessories seen on the pink carpet.
Katy Perry attended the event in a dress by Jeremy Scott that fully represented a chandelier, just as extravagantly outrageous as Porter. Both looks were incredibly eye-catching and perfect fits for the theme of the night.
Feathers, eccentric colors and outrageous patterns were seen at every corner of the event.
Some of the icons, Gigi Hadid, Rhianna, Ezra Miller, Jared Leto and Jared Leto’s Head pulled these “unnatural” looks off perfectly. Others like Elle Fanning, Lupito Nyong’o, Cara Delevingne and Hamish Bowels, who wore a lavishly colorful cape full of feathers and flamboyance, went for colorful an exciting looks. Bowels even went as far as dyeing his own hair to match his beautifully creative ensemble. Ryan Murphy, Florence Welch and Kris Jenner all incorporated the idea of a cape into their outfits for the night.
Overall, the night was a success filled with a beautiful color, patterns, feathers and fur, wild make-up, crowns, insanely long eyelashes, beautiful flamboyance, diamonds, gold, skilled beading and accessories that made it difficult to understand how these A-listers ate their dinner.
By Brianna McKnight, Staff Writer
mcknigbl15@bonaventure.edu
