The Bite Magazine - Summer 2019 - Issue 25

Whilst mesmerised by the lead up to the Met Gala, Dawn Hunt visited the Met Camp Exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that mirrored this year’s Met Gala annual party theme. bite exhibition T here are very few things in the fashion world that really, re- ally get people excited. Fashion Weeks are looked forward to with equal amounts of excitement and dread. Limited edition collections are marked with price tags only a select few can afford, but still rev some people’s engines into a frenzy, but it’s Anna Wintour’s annual Costume Institute Benefit, or more widely known as the Met Gala, that’s really something extraordinary. It’s like Christmas morning, one’s birthday, prom and wedding all rolled into one insane and über-exclusive party that only the coolest of the cool people are invited to attend. Yes, it’s probably more looked forward to and freaked out over than the Emmys or Oscars when it comes to “What am I going to wear?” as this is THE PARTY to see and be seen at. One of the driving forces behind the pomp of the Met Gala is that it’s always themed. Each year has a specific premise that guides its guests as to what to wear. For example, last’s year’s topic of wardrobe was Heav- enly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. Ergo, everyone ar- rived wearing their interpretation of fashion in the Catholic Church. It was incredible to see the designs and haute couture fashion people wore, and just how extreme some of the ‘costumes’ were. This year’s theme, was a bit confusing when it was first announced, however, as the word ‘camp' can describe two very different things. On the one hand, one may envision tents and hiking gear, and on the other, it can be a word used to describe something/someone as deliberately exaggerated and outrageously theatrical in style. The latter, of course, was what this year’s theme centred around. Just as in previous years, the Met prepared a unique feature exhibition to complement the event for the public. On display from 9th May to 8th September 2019, and made possible by Gucci, the Costume Insti- tute’s spring 2019 exhibition, Camp: Notes on Fashion will be set up for those wishing to explore the origins of camp’s exuberant aesthetic and how the exuberant style evolved from a place of idiosyncrasy and even eccentricity to become an important influence on mainstream culture. Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on ‘Camp’ acts as the blueprint for the exhibition, which examines how, “fashion designers have used their métier as a vehicle to engage with camp in a myriad of compelling, hu- morous, and sometimes incongruous ways.”