In A Massimo Dutti Coat, Kate Middleton Wore Accessories You Can Still Shop Did Victoria Beckham Just Confirm The End Of Skinny Jeans? How To Find Pear-Shaped Jeans That Are Comfortable And Fit Properly All Of The Times Kate Middleton Took Sartorial Inspiration From Princess Diana Kate Middleton Just Wore The Perfect £119 Spring Blouse (And You Can Shop Her Whole Outfit) The Very Best Outfits On Sex And The City That Are Always Worth Remembering Deep Breath – The Corset Is Making A Comeback, All Thanks To Billie Eilish H&M x Brock Collection: The New Designer Collaboration Has Just Been Revealed These Are The Best Summer Dresses Of The Year, So Don't Hang Around by Vic Parsons | “The hallmark of Camp is the spirit of extravagance,” wrote Susan Sontag in her seminal 1964 essay, Notes on “Camp”. “Camp is a woman walking around in a dress made of three million feathers.” Sontag’s essay is the inspiration for this year’s Met Gala theme, Camp: Notes on Fashion, which could give us the most outrageous and over-the-top red carpet yet – though even Rihanna might struggle to wear three million feathers. The Met Gala, held at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the grand opening of the annual fashion exhibition at the Met Museum’s Costume Institute. It’s one of the biggest fashion fundraisers of the year, and the theme is the starting point for the red-carpet look of those on the exclusive guest list. Last year, the event courted controversy with Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, as the theme’s exploration of the relationship between fashion and Catholicism came at a time when the Catholic Church was in the spotlight for child sex-abuse scandals. And it wasn’t the first time that the Met Gala’s theme has provoked tension: China: Through the Looking Glass, in 2015, was criticised for condensing a diverse culture into some offensive stereotypes, seen on the red carpet through a proliferation of dragons, chopsticks, braids and kimonos. Rihanna was one of the few people actually dressed by a Chinese designer – she won the red carpet with Guo Pei’s infamous canary-yellow creation, which subsequently inspired thousands of memes. Rihanna at the Met Gala in 2015 wearing a dress designed by Guo Pei When Sontag’s essay was first published, some in the LGBTQ+ community were critical. It was 1964, before the modern gay-rights movement began – pre-Stonewall uprising, when homosexuality was still considered a mental disorder and long before equal marriage was recognised in the UK – and the relationship between camp and marginalised LGBTQ+ people was such that bringing it to public attention and making it mainstream felt, to some, like a violation. Arguably, it doesn’t get more public and mainstream than the Met Gala. So, with camp and queerness being so intrinsically linked, will this year’s theme be as controversial as the last? Harris Reed, the queer designer-turned-model who started attracting attention last year for collaborating with Harry Styles, and who recently walked for Gucci’s 2019 Cruise show, doesn’t think so. “I think the theme this year, and the people hosting [of which Styles is one] , is really going to make a big and impactful change for the LGBTQIA community,” he says. “This year’s theme could not be more relevant, it could not be more important, at a time when we have people like Donald Trump banishing transgender individuals from the US military, when you have the Sultan of Brunei now legally allowing LGBTQIA people to be stoned to death.” Sontag wrote that “homosexuals, by and large, constitute the vanguard -- and the most articulate audience -- of Camp”. And it is the way the Met Gala will highlight this relationship that Reed says is so important. “Camp is a really deep word and I think that’s amazing, because anything that has that kind of subtext to it, that is so multifaceted, can really open people up to have a conversation – what is this year’s theme? What is camp? What is camp culture? Where did this come from? I think camp is a great window to open people up to queerness and queer culture and what that stands for,” he says. While the Met Gala is one night only, the Costume Institute’s exhibition will run all summer. It follows the evolution of the camp aesthetic from queer subculture to important influence on mainstream culture. The exhibition will feature 175 objects and will open with the 17th-century court of Versailles positioned as a “camp Eden”, looking at the concept of se camper, or “to posture boldly”, in the royal courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV. William Dill-Russell – a designer who cites queer history as an inspiration and who used Fanny and Stella, two 18th-century crossdressers, as inspiration for their first collection – has three garments in the exhibition. “As a queer designer who identifies as non-binary, it is seemingly rare to have such incredible opportunities gifted to you,” they say. “To then also be representing a part of the exhibition that reflects on the history of campness and queer culture is such an honour.” This year’s theme presents an opportunity, too: “I’d love to see people really explore the history of camp and queer pioneers, and if that means them wearing an homage to someone – then great! There are so many incredible people who have paved paths, not just for queer folk, but also for creatives. So it would be interesting to see who relates to certain historical figures and stories.” “It’s obviously also very important to show how valid LGBTQ+ identities and history are in a world where LGBTQ+ individuals are still being marginalised by governments and bigoted people.” Camp, Sontag wrote, is the “attempt to do something extraordinary”. And, if it succeeds in having fun while giving a platform to queer designers and showcasing queer history, it looks like this year’s Met Gala could be on to a winner. Camp is joyous, generous and glamorous – a fitting theme for fashion’s biggest fundraiser.<doc-sep>AND we’re here again, at the biggest fashion party of the year: The Met Gala. While the chances of any of you (or us, for that matter) scoring a highly-coveted ticket to the event is slim to none, we can still participate by dressing to its theme. This year, that’s camp. Hold up – what the hell is camp, anyway? You must be thinking it’s either something involving tents and the wilderness, or for those of us who have been through BMT, a uniform that we’d prefer to store away for an indefinite period of time. Don’t worry, that’s why we’re here, to lay rest to all your doubts. “The essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration.” – Susan Sontag There’s no hard and fast rule as to what camp is, but that’s what makes it all the more fun and intriguing. In it’s purest essence, it’s a sort of sensibility, an attitude that toes the line between kitschy, ironic, glamorous, and exaggeration. Susan Sontag helped outline the sensibility in her seminal essay, Camp: Notes on Fashion. There, she penned 58 “jottings” in an attempt to give camp some form of dimension. It’s compared to Tiffany lamps, the Swan Lake ballet, feathered boas, and even the 1933 version of King Kong directed by Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack. But how does that translate to fashion and style? Thankfully, there are already more than enough style icons that embody the essence and sensibility of camp. Enter personas like Elton John, who in his sequined tracksuits, oversized glasses, and louder-than-life presence have basically nailed what it is to be camp for a man. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Jan 24, 2018 at 1:26pm PST Other younger figures have also come to personify what camp means. Think Ezra Miller in his showstopping Moncler Genius red carpet gown by Pierpaolo Piccioli. The late Karl Lagerfeld, kaiser of Chanel, was also in his own way a campy character with his signature white coif, debonair tuxedo, and sunglasses.<doc-sep>Last year she drew attention for dressing like the Pope, and her 2015 yellow look included one of the longest trains ever seen at the event.<doc-sep>And showing everyone how it was done at the very start of the night was singer Lady Gaga, who arrived in a billowing pink outfit which was not quite what it seemed at first glance.<doc-sep>
The 71 st Met Gala 2019, was chaired by Anna Wintour, Lady Gaga, Alessandro Michael, Harry Styles, and Serena Williams. This year’s extravagant met gala took place in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York as always. About 200 artworks and fashion objects dated back from the 17th century was exhibited at the gala. Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas Followed by last year’s theme Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, this year the established theme was Camp: Notes on Fashion. This idea was inspired by Susan Sontag’s essay Notes on Camp, which created a literary sensation back in the ’60s. For those who are wondering what camp is, here’s our break down of this year's theme. The core idea of Camp is to make something look appealing which is of a bad taste and the celebrities have really stepped up to make it look so. The concept invites a whole different kind of perception about art, fashion, styles and how to regard them. The word “camp” traces back its origin to 1870 at London, where it was first used in the case of a crossdresser Frederick Park, who was suspected of then-illegal homosexual activity. Then the Oxford dictionary included it later in their print with a meaning of exaggeration, theatrical and ostentatious. The Costume Institute's head curator Andrew Bolton of the Metropolitan Museum of Art said, "Camp by nature is subversive, confronting and challenging. In the end, the purpose of the camp is to put a smile on our faces and a warm glow in our hearts." Deepika Padukone Weighing in her thoughts on the theme, the elegant Padmavat actress, Deepika Padukone with her exquisite underworld Barbie outfit defined camp as something very personal and how everyone has their own interpretation of the camp. The actress said,” It’s theatrical... sort of over the top and you want do it in an elegant and respectable way.” Nick Jonas and his wife, actress Priyanka Chopra wearing Dior stated, "Camp is an idea which lets you do whatever you want. It's about playing with the idea of not taking yourself too seriously and having some fun with it.” Harry Styles Harry Styles who made his debut in the Met Gala is also one of the co-chairs of the event. To him, camp meant enjoyment, fun and no judgment as people are free to be who they are. Kim Kardashian who attended the met with her partner Kanye West said that the only word to define camp is “Manfred Thierry Mugler” who is a known for his fetishistic fashion and spectacular Broadway shows.