There were lots of Versace looks on the pink Met Gala carpet, which confused me at first until I remembered Versace’s roots. Gianni Versace loved a glam-camp look, he loved excess and fashion which brushed up against the camp line, and sometimes crossed that camp line. Donatella Versace is pretty campy too, even if her designs often are not. So Donatella brought out all of that campy ‘70s and ‘80s excess to many of the looks she created for the Met Gala. One of the best was Jennifer Lopez’s look – you could definitely see the Cher/Bob Mackie influences and I felt like this was J.Lo’s “intellectual camp” reading. Alex Rodriguez wasn’t camp (yet he is campy, weird) so he just got out of the way for the most part.
Someone else who killed it in Versace: Lupita Nyong’o. I need hand-clapping emojis: LUPITA. GETS. IT. She’s someone – much like Rihanna – who does her own research about the theme, and she’s someone who studies the history of fashion, the history of hair, the history of color and all of that. The bright tie-dye shoulder piece, the gold Afro picks, the John Waters-vibing makeup… I might not understand every single reference, but I know this is CAMP AF.
Serena Williams was one of the co-chairs for this year’s Met Gala – she’s actually missing a mandatory tournament in Madrid right now – and I wondered if she would be able to do a good interpretation on the theme. I find Serena’s normal style to veer towards tacky/camp/excess anyway, but would she lean in to that? The answer is… sort of? This Versace was canary yellow and flamingo pink and ruffled and extra. She paired it with some custom (matching) Virgil Abloh x Nike sneakers. Camp or no?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty, Avalon Red.
Like i said, the camp term is lost on me. How about we change it to crap look. I have a lot of dresses that fall into this category.
Can we just say tacky? Is it the same thing?
I don’t think the terms are the same. Plus, some of these dresses should be flushed down a toilet.
It’s close to the same thing. Most things that qualify as camp people would also consider tacky, but there’s more to it than that.
But camp is certainly not supposed to be pretty, although it CAN be.
Camp has to be intentional, not just someone’s lack of taste, and it often has a deeper meaning. Whether the outfit is an allusion to another time, place, person, event, breaking of social norms, etc or is a physical representation of being “in on the joke”, there’s got to be more thought put in for it to be camp than just “well this is tacky af”.
I think if Rihanna was there, we would have an illustration of what camp on woman in a 21 century looks like. Shame it is the year, she skipped it.
It’s not the same thing, but it appears that the majority of attendees had this misunderstanding.
Think Divine in Pink Flamingos.
Or Pedro Almodovar set design, kind of an humorous take on 1950s social norms; presenting the proper as a joke.
Lupita looks like she’d fit right into a midnight show crowd for Rocky Horror Picture Show: PERFECT. JLo… is there ANY pic of her on the carpet(s) NOT doing her mouth-breather “O” face?? Ugh..enough! I loved the fact that Serena looked lovely, and like she was having fun with her dress, and I’m sure she was the most comfortable woman, shoe-wise, there lol.
Jennifer’s look did nothing for me. My first thought was that I bet Rihanna has worn almost this exact same look before and did it better. I guess it’s campy, but it’s just meh imo.
Lupita’s look on the other hand was PERFECTION. Every element of her look, dress/makeup/accessories/hair was well thought out and fit the theme wonderfully.
Serena’s dress and Air Jordans were fantastic. I think she messed up with accessories/hair most of all, the makeup wasn’t the best either. But overall she looked pretty good.
I agree with this comment! J Lo’s look looked like something she would wear in one of her music videos, so it was fairly lost on me. Lupita NAILED. IT. Serena did decently.
You’re right. Rihanna wore something reminiscent of this (but more nude/ revealing and amazing) at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards a couple years ago.
I like both looks.
There’s no joy in jlo. This is a regular Grammy look for her. I think camp has to be fun and a bit ironic, and her sexy open mouth serious model faces ruin the looks. Then again I wish more people pulled from the exhibition catalogue and didn’t just pull from the 70s-80s Rocket Man look.
I agree. She’s trying so hard to be sexy and “fierce” that it doesn’t help her look. God, it must be exhausting to always be like that.
Yeah she tries so hard but there’s a certain emptiness in what she does.
@Chimney You hit right on the head. She looks empty. Spot on.
Why is AROD wearing lipstick?
Regular Grammy look—exactly. No big deal.
I agree. It’s her typical style, so it doesn’t really fit the theme, IMO. Her hard posing makes me kind of sad and uncomfortable. The open mouth thing would be fun for the theme….if she didn’t do it on every carpet. It’s not a joke, it’s her usual.
JLo’s first photo screams unintentional campiness to me. If she were trying to be funny with that pose, it would totally work, but we all know she was dead serious with that.
Lupita’s is interesting.
I think I’m the only person that thinks she looks ridiculous half of the time. The other half of time she nails it but not this time.
Ugh, that open mouth look on J-Lo..all the time! She must have a really dry mouth after these events..😂
I really wish she’d close her mouth, it just looks stupid and desperate and she’s gorgeous and her body is ridiculous, but I forget that when she does mouth breather😑
I was just going to say that. She always always poses with that face, it’s annoying.
THIS!!!!!!!!
Can someone explain what is Camp supposed to be?
There is so many different gowns/ style represented this year in the met gala, I fail to see who represented it the best.
But I love lupita !
For me…camp means “Over the top”.
Over the top. Joyous. Usually unintentionally bad (the tricky part that can’t be recreated when going for camp)
Marie Anoinette’s 3 feet beehive with butterflies coming out.
Performance costumes from: Elton John. Liberace. Cher. Spice Girls
Anything Eddy from AbFab wore.
Bjorns swan dress.
It honestly can be anything. But usually over the top and joy are in there.
The important part of camp is to understand that it is genuine. There’s intent under the ridiculousness. It’s a rebellion against socially normative ideas of taste and acceptability. It’s the joy of being without consideration for the views of others. Hence why it grew in popularity among minority LGBT+ populations before we ever saw it in the mainstream. Camp is fun, but it is also purpose and meaning.
I don’t get either.
Thank you 3 for your answers!!! Really helpful. Now I see.
Jlo should really close her mouth, the open mouth pose is played!
The campiest thing about Serena’s look is thr dorky husband, who looks like an accountant who accidentally landed on a John Waters movie set. Perfection.
Hey Anna Wintour, why wasn’t John Waters there anyway?
Too tough to call. Can you sticky this while I sleep on it.
Lupita’s had interesting ideas but it was too much. The shoulder thing should have maybe been much smaller and some uniform metallic color.
The other didn’t quite cut the theme but I liked them. Serena’s was a bit big however.
Camp is over the Top Lupita was on point with her look.
Why wasn’t John waters there? He is the definition of camp.
Totally agree Lupito is the only one to get camp for this thread. JLo’s outfit was pretty much what you’d usually see her wear, except for the wig, and while I like Serena’s look it didn’t scream camp as much as awards season gown.
Lupita always gets it. Serena tried and Jlo was just wearing a costume
Out of this group, Lupita got it.
Love Lupita’s look! JLo’s gown looks like something she normally wears but with a sparkly wig. Is it me or does JLo look like she doesn’t want Alex touching her? Serena’s look is pretty and for the red carpet.
Lupita’s look made me smile the moment it hit the carpet. The combs! And I actually think Serena’s fits her well – it’s just over the top enough to hit camp without losing her style, and using Nike tennis shoes to tone done any elegance to the look was very clever.
I’m too distracted by J Lo’s new boobs to comment on her outfit. At least she’s enjoying them?
JLo, close your mouth girl! You are gonna get a fly in there if you don’t!
LUPITA. F**KING. DID. IT.
Lupita really nailed it for me.
I don’t know if Serena’s is camp or not but she looks fabulous. Love it.
Lupita ftw, wow! Gorgeously campy
I don’t see J-lo look as camp.
Lupita is perfect and I love Serena’s diamond Rolex and neon Off-Whites as little campy details. So good.
Loving JLo’s take on the theme, that woman is just perfection! Seeing her next month for her tour, so excited!
J-Lo looks like she’s having an absence seizure in that first pic.
Why is everyone at the gala orange? I don’t remember everyone being orange in those years. Only sunburnt to a crisp.
What years? The Versailles years? The theme is “camp”, not a period in time.
Lupita’s look was the only one of these that I liked. I thought she nailed it.
Lupita and Lena W. Nailed the the theme. I love the gold black power fist hair picks, both understood camps roots. (Pun intended)
I love details that appear when you look closer. The fists on Lupita’s picks were incredible.
J.Lo ….. ugh. She’s exhausting. This looked like a very budget GiGi Hadid outfit and I’m no fan of GiGi’s outfit.
I love JLo’s look from the neck up. Is it just me or has she been looking dead in the eyes since she got engaged to the meatloaf?
She also got a boob job recently but so far I seem to be the only one to notice.
Cameron Diaz also got a boob job when she was with ARod.
I thought her boobs look different also, but I thought it was just me or the dress.
Lupita has one of if not the best camp outfit of the gala. She’s giving me Grace Jones vibes. Which begs the question why was Grace Jones not there? That woman is the definition of camp.