Louis XIV and Oscar Wilde, meet Bjork and Lady Gaga.
What quality do they share, across the centuries? An innate sense of camp B次元官网网址� the esthetic thatB次元官网网址檚 being celebrated in the new fashion mega-exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of ArtB次元官网网址檚 Costume Institute, B次元官网网址淐amp: Notes on Fashion.B次元官网网址�
Think BjorkB次元官网网址檚 famous 2001 B次元官网网址渟wan dress,B次元官网网址� which is in the show, and GagaB次元官网网址檚 unforgettable 2010 raw meat dress, which isnB次元官网网址檛 (it was real meat, after all.) But lest you think camp is only artifice and theatricality, flamboyance and a desire to shock, Met curator Andrew Bolton wants you to think again.
B次元官网网址淧eople are very quick to dismiss camp as being trite, glib, frivolous,B次元官网网址� Bolton said in a weekend interview as he was putting finishing touches on the exhibit, which launches Monday evening at the star-studded Met Gala, to be co-chaired by Gaga herself, along with Serena Williams, Harry Styles, GucciB次元官网网址檚 Alessandro Michele, and of course Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
B次元官网网址淏ut it actually has a lot of history, itB次元官网网址檚 really serious, itB次元官网网址檚 political B次元官网网址� and itB次元官网网址檚 tragic too, disguised as humour,B次元官网网址� he said.
READ MORE:
The exhibit is built around author Susan SontagB次元官网网址檚 1964 B次元官网网址淣otes on B次元官网网址楥amp,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� a 58-point essay which she dedicated to Oscar Wilde, the 19th century poet and playwright whose camp sensibility is also featured in the show. Camp B次元官网网址渋s not a natural mode of sensibility,B次元官网网址� she wrote. B次元官网网址淭he essence B次元官网网址� is its love of the unnatural, of artifice and exaggeration.B次元官网网址�
She also called camp B次元官网网址渟omething of a private code.B次元官网网址� Bolton notes that in later years, it became mainstream, to the point where it lost much of its subversive meaning. Originating in gay culture, it slowly became assimilated into the culture at large along with other parts of gay culture, he says.
But every so often camp comes back as a powerful influence in fashion, Bolton says, and he thinks itB次元官网网址檚 having a new moment now, because it always returns at a time of political polarization and instability.
At a press preview on Monday, Bolton told the crowd that since he chose the subject of B次元官网网址渃amp,B次元官网网址� everyoneB次元官网网址檚 been asking two questions: B次元官网网址淲hy camp?B次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淲hat IS camp?B次元官网网址�
And so the exhibit, which features some 250 items, begins with history B次元官网网址� and a grammar lesson. The term B次元官网网址渃ampB次元官网网址� was first used as a French verb B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渟e camper,B次元官网网址� or to flaunt B次元官网网址� in the 17th century. In a 1671 Moliere play, the character Scapin tells a fellow servant to B次元官网网址淐amp about on one leg. Put your hand on your hip. Wear a furious look. Strut about like a drama king.B次元官网网址�
To remind us of one such drama king, thereB次元官网网址檚 Louis XIV, in his official portrait: one leg in front, hand on hip, modeling his massive royal cloak, along with silk stockings and red-heeled shoes.
The exhibit then takes us from the verb to the adjective, B次元官网网址渃ampish,B次元官网网址� which had gay connotations in the 19th century, and then to the noun, where camp first enters a Victorian dictionary in 1909, defined as B次元官网网址渁ctions and gestures of exaggerated emphasis. Probably from the French.B次元官网网址�
Then comes the fashion. ThereB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渘aive camp,B次元官网网址� which is intended to be serious but failing, versus B次元官网网址渄eliberate camp,B次元官网网址� intended to be, well, campy.
There are enormous feathered dresses B次元官网网址� Sontag wrote that camp was B次元官网网址渁 woman walking around in a dress made of three million feathersB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� by Armani and by Jeremy Scott, the latter surrounded by scores of attached butterflies. Scott, a specialist in camp, also is represented by a dress of dollar bills, and his McDonaldB次元官网网址檚-themed outfits for Moschino, where he serves as creative director.
From John Galliano, there are dresses that seem made of newspaper clippings and packing tape. And because the Palace of Versailles is seen as B次元官网网址渁 sort of camp (Garden of) Eden,B次元官网网址� thereB次元官网网址檚 a section of Versailles-style gowns by designers like Franco Moschino and Vivienne Westwood.
B次元官网网址淐amp is B次元官网网址楽wan Lake,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Sontag wrote, so we also have BjorkB次元官网网址檚 famous swan dress by designer Marjan Pejoski, the birdB次元官网网址檚 long neck curving over the shoulder.
Representing what Sontag called B次元官网网址渢he convertibility of B次元官网网址榤anB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址榳oman,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� designer Thom Browne contributes a manB次元官网网址檚 wedding outfit that combines a black tuxedo with a white filmy skirt.
And maybe there isnB次元官网网址檛 a Lady Gaga meat dress, but thereB次元官网网址檚 a Jeremy Scott B次元官网网址減rosciutto dressB次元官网网址� (not real, this time), and his wacky TV dinner cape B次元官网网址� with carrots, peas and corn on one side, mashed potatoes with butter on the other (theyB次元官网网址檙e fake too, thankfully.)
Because camp B次元官网网址渟ees everything in quotation marksB次元官网网址� (Sontag again), there is designer Virgil AblohB次元官网网址檚 2018 little black dress that says B次元官网网址淟ittle Black Dress,B次元官网网址� with boots that say B次元官网网址淔or Walking.B次元官网网址�
And thereB次元官网网址檚 a gigantic birthday cake-like dress of cascading pink tulle by Viktor & Rolfe, which says B次元官网网址淟ess is MoreB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� because camp is, above all, about irony.
Bolton says he started thinking about camp two years ago when mounting his show on Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons. He reread SontagB次元官网网址檚 essay and was struck by how relevant it felt.
He was also inspired to mark the 50th anniversary this year of the 1969 Stonewall riots, a landmark moment in the history of gay rights.
Bolton notes that some designers have always embraced camp B次元官网网址� Moschino, Scott, Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui, for example. B次元官网网址淏ut what youB次元官网网址檙e seeing now is other designers adopting it, like Valentino, Armani. ThatB次元官网网址檚 when it shifts, when itB次元官网网址檚 going beyond a handful to a broader group.B次元官网网址�
When the show opens to the public on Thursday, Bolton hopes visitors will be able to look beyond campB次元官网网址檚 formal characteristics B次元官网网址� irony, parody, artificiality and extravagance, to name a few B次元官网网址� and see its broader meaning.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 all of that,B次元官网网址� he acknowledges. B次元官网网址淏ut itB次元官网网址檚 much more.B次元官网网址�
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
Like us on and follow us on
