On Monday, May 6, 2019, was the annual Met Gala. The Met Gala, is an annual fundraiser, for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institution in New York. This is the event of the evening for fashion. The best fashion designers, pick and choose whom to design and bring to their table. The invite is very small. Designers spend months designing outfits for the event that goes along with the theme. The theme each year, is based on the costume pieces chosen for the exhibit. This year’s Met theme was “Camp,” based on an essay written by Susan Sontag called “Notes on Camp.” I am about to read this essay in my philosophy 103 class and am very excited to unpack the essay that was the inspiration from this years theme. This theme was more expressive than usual. As defined by many stars, “camp” is creative freedom to be the most an extra, fun version of yourself. “Camp” was defined as being unique, and different. As stated in Sontag’s essay, “The whole point of Camp is to dethrone the serious. Camp is playful, anti-serious. More precisely, Camp involves a new, more complex relation to ‘the serious.’ One can be serious about the frivolous, frivolous about the serious.” This theme was interpreted in many different ways. Someone with no idea about camp is about would be very confused about all the extravagant outfits. With a theme so broad, it leads guest to a very open interpretation of camp. Though each guest looked stunning and had a very different version of camp. Here is my favorite Met Gala looks.
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Celine Dion: Not to be biased for my love of Celine Dion, but I think she captured the essence of the Met. She stepped onto the carpet wearing an Oscar de la Renta bodysuit. I think she was very expressive and that bodysuit accented her features very well. Though I would not say that she really capture the camp theme that well. I felt like she captured class and elegance
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Taylor Hill: Even though I am obsessed with this look, I do not really see the connection to camp. Still, she looked absolutely stunning and elegant. She wore a stunning light pink satin dress, by Ralph Lauren and wore Butani
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Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas: These two strutted the runway together wearing Louis Vuitton. The use of pattern and sequence captured the camp look. The outfits also coordinated which I thought was fun for their first Met.
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Gemma Chan: I am obsessed with Gemma Chan and I was so excited to see her at the Met wearing Tom Ford. Her outfit, similar to Celine Dion was very elegant and classy. She looked like a billion dollars in that dress.
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Jared Leto: The man has done it again, perfectly nailing the Met theme. Leto, who wore Gucci looked dashing while still capturing the quirky elements of camp. He even showed up showing a replica of his head in hand which I found as so fun.
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Darren Criss: When it comes to the theme he was on point. He captured camp in such a fun way. It was also nice to see a male really dive into the theme and take a risk.
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Dapper Dan: The man himself looked Dapper in his red suit, with elements that captured the essence of Camp.
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Anna Wintour: The lady of the evening, the queen herself, looked absolutely stunning wearing an all pink. She reminded me of a pink flamingo. I loved it. She had the perfect combination between the theme and elegance.