The Met Gala, an annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City, is also known for holding extravagant parties complete with a themed attire. “Camp: Notes on Fashion” in 2019 was one of the most interesting events and had some iconic fashion looks.
The camp theme is not based on outdoor camping; camp also means an exaggerated, theatrical style. In “Notes on ‘Camp,’” Susan Sontag describes camp as “a certain mode of aesthetic,” and she writes about 58 different ways that camp can be described, worn, or expressed.
The 2019 Met Gala fashion reminded me of Katniss Everdeen’s white dress in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie. The Met Gala dresses didn’t catch on fire, but they do carry similar symbolic weight in the fashion industry.
In order to embody camp, the use of expressiveness is unlimited. The idea of displaying “bad taste and ironic value” in a fashionable, sexy aura is unique, which is probably why some designers had a hard time following the dress code.
Kylie Jenner demonstrated this concept with her Atelier Versace look. The main idea is to model high fashion that could be thought of as obnoxious, and I feel that her purple feathers and matching hair gave us that extravagant, intriguing look.