When: Gala // Monday, May 6, 2019 (FOOTAGE AND PHOTOS BELOW!)
Exhibition Dates // Thursday, May 9 - Sunday, September 8, 2019
Deets: The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that The Costume Institute’s spring 2019 exhibition will be Camp: Notes on Fashion, on view from May 9 through September 8, 2019 (preceded on May 6 by The Costume Institute Benefit). Presented in The Met Fifth Avenue’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, it will explore the origins of the camp aesthetic and how it has evolved from a place of marginality to become an important influence on mainstream culture. Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on ‘Camp’ provides the framework for the exhibition, which will examine how fashion designers have used their métier as a vehicle to engage with camp in a myriad of compelling, humorous, and sometimes incongruous ways.
The exhibition is made possible by Gucci.
Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.
In celebration of the opening, The Costume Institute Benefit, also known as The Met Gala, will take place on Monday, May 6, 2019. The evening’s co-chairs will be Lady Gaga, Alessandro Michele, Harry Styles, Serena Williams, and Anna Wintour. The event is The Costume Institute’s main source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and capital improvements.
Exhibition Overview
The exhibition will feature approximately 175 objects, including womenswear and menswear, as well as sculptures, paintings, and drawings dating from the 17th century to the present. The show’s opening section will position Versailles as a “camp Eden” and address the concept of se camper—“to posture boldly”—in the royal courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV. It will then focus on the figure of the dandy as a “camp ideal” and trace camp’s origins to the queer subcultures of Europe and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In her essay, Sontag defined camp as an aesthetic and outlined its primary characteristics. The largest section of the exhibition will be devoted to how these elements—which include irony, humor, parody, pastiche, artifice, theatricality, and exaggeration—are expressed in fashion.
Designers whose works will be featured in the exhibition include Gilbert Adrian, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Thom Browne, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, John Galliano (for Martin Margiela, House of Dior, and his own label), Jean Paul Gaultier, Rudi Gernreich, Guccio Gucci, Demna Gvasalia (for Balenciaga and his own label), Marc Jacobs (for Louis Vuitton and his own label), Charles James, Stephen Jones, Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld (for House of Chanel, Chloe, and his own label), Herbert and Beth Levine, Alessandro Michele (for Gucci), Franco Moschino, Thierry Mugler, Norman Norell, Marjan Pejoski, Paul Poiret, Miuccia Prada, Richard Quinn, Christian Francis Roth, Yves Saint Laurent, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeremy Scott (for Moschino and his own label), Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren (for Viktor & Rolf), Anna Sui, Philip Treacy, Walter Van Beirendonck, Donatella Versace (for Versace), Gianni Versace, Vivienne Westwood, and Charles Frederick Worth.
Exhibition Credits
The exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, with Karen Van Godtsenhoven, Associate Curator. Theater scenographer Jan Versweyveld, whose work includes Lazarus with David Bowie as well as Broadway productions of A View from the Bridge and The Crucible, will create the exhibition design with The Met’s Design Department. Select mannequin headpieces will be created by Shay Ashual. Raul Avila will produce the gala décor, which he has done since 2007.
Related Content
A publication by Andrew Bolton with Fabio Cleto, Karen van Godtsenhoven, and Amanda Garfinkel will accompany the exhibition and include new photography by Johnny Dufort. It will be published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press.
A special feature on the Museum’s website, www.metmuseum.org/Camp, provides further information about the exhibition. Follow us on Facebook.com/metmuseum, Instagram.com/metmuseum, and Twitter.com/metmuseum to join the conversation about the exhibition and gala. Use #MetCamp, #CostumeInstitute, @MetCostumeInstitute, and #MetGala on Instagram and Twitter.
About Gucci
Founded in Florence in 1921, Gucci is one of the world’s leading luxury fashion brands, with a reputation for creativity, innovation, and Italian craftsmanship. Gucci is part of Kering, a global Luxury group, which manages the development of a series of renowned maisons in fashion, leather goods, jewelry, and watches.
About The Met
The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world in three New York City sites—The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters. Since it was founded in 1870, art comes alive in the galleries and through exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and cultures.
Spotted: Co-chairs will be Lady Gaga, Alessandro Michele, Harry Styles, Serena Williams, and Anna Wintour.
Nick Jonas, Priyanka Chopra, Dakota Johnson, Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian West, Kanye West, Travis Scott, Cardi B, Katy Perry, Celine Dion, Tracey Ellis Ross, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Frances Aaternir, Candice Swanepoel, Gwen Stefani, Hailee Steinfeld, Zoe Kravitz, Julianne Moore, Bella Hadid, Kristen Stewart, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sophie Hunter, Ciara, Cara Delevingne, Zendaya, Nicki Minaj, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, Emma Stone, Kerry Washington, Joan Smalls, Gal Gadot, Diane Von Furstenburg, Naomi Campbell, Josephine Skriver, Emma Roberts, Emily Ratajkowski, Elle Fanning, Halsey, Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Gigi Hadid, Lucy Boynton, Laura Love, Carey Mulligan, Janet Mock, Camila Mendes, Charles Melton, Emily Blunt, Charli XCX, Princess Charlotte Casiraghi of Monaco, Alexa Chung, Demi Moore, Michael B Jordan, Shawn Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Lili Reinhart, Hailey Bieber, Liu Wen, Darren Criss, Sofia Sanchez, Amber Valletta, Sienna Miller, Rami Malek, Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Paloma Elsesser, Natasha Lyonne, Ruth Wilson, Constance Wu, Taylor Hill, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Welch, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Madelaine Petsch, Baz Luhrmann, Huma Abedin, Aquaria, Yara Shahidi, Ryan Murphy, Frank Ocean, Taron Egerton, Wendy Yu, Jordan Roth, Rachel Broshnahan, Caroline Trentini, Maria Sharapova, Richard Madden, Mindy Kaling, 21 Savage, Awkwafina, Sara Sampaio, Dapper Dan, Karlie Kloss, Regina Hall, Ashley Graham, Laverne Cox, RuPaul, Billy Porter, Deepika Padukone, Kacey Musgraves, Tommy Hilfiger, Wendy Deng Murdoch, Stephan James, Ella Balinska, Elizabeth Debicki, Sinéad Burke, Violet Chachki, and more
Hint For The Average Socialite: The Met Gala is strictly invite only.
The Exhibition will be open from May 9 - September 8, 2019. Exhibition tickets are available now! The Costume Institute's spring 2019 exhibition will explore the origins of the camp aesthetic, and how it has evolved from a place of marginality to become an important influence on mainstream culture. Susan Sontag's 1964 essay "Notes on 'Camp'" provides the framework for the exhibition, which will examine how fashion designers have used their métier as a vehicle to engage with camp in a myriad of compelling, humorous, and sometimes incongruous ways.
