Camptown ladies…

Barbie Pin | Olympia Le-Tan Caviar Bag | My Own Guitar Pic Dress | Max Star High Heeled Sneaker | My Own ‘Luck Be A Lady’ Vest | Katy Perry Present Slide | TU Sequined Bomber Jacket | Andy Warhol Brillo Camp Shirt | Chinese Takeout Evening Bag | Two Ladies Bodysuit | Katy Perry Hamburger Shoe

Today is Camp Day (aka: the 2019 Met Gala, which kicks off the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newest costume exhibition “Camp: Notes on Fashion”) .  I equate the Gala to the Super Bowl of Fashion, bringing together a who’s who of artists, models, designers, and style arbiters to see who walks away with the ‘Best Dressed’ prize. This year’s exhibition (which opens On May 9th) was inspired by the 1964 Susan Sontag: Notes on ‘Camp‘ essay which notes that “Camp…has the proper mixture of the exaggerated, the fantastic, the passionate, and the naïve.”

As a designer I have always had a camp mentality, creating one-of-a-kind garments that are tongue-in-cheek, irrelevant, and sly.  This sensibility is on display in two of my designs pictured above: the ‘Pic Dress’, made from beads and thousands of unique guitar pics (worn to a Grammys ceremony and which made music when I walked) and the ‘Luck Be a Lady’ denim vest, incorporating rhinestones, embroidery, and vintage naked lady playing cards (worn for a night in Vegas and which truly was a good luck charm).

You may be thinking camp fashion isn’t for you, but trust me when I tell you anyone can incorporate a little bit of camp into their daily look: shoes, jewelry, bags, t-shirts and coats are all easy ways to add a little fantastic into your everyday.

As for the ladies who walk the carpet in a few hours, you better believe a bit of attitude is going to go a long way toward pulling off whatever ‘camp’ they choose to wear, which is why I am already predicting who might end up in the Top 10 looks of the night.  I have high expectations for Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, two women who seem born to ‘camp’, along with Rhianna and Zendaya, both of whom kill any carpet they grace. Throw in Sarah Jessica Parker (representing the old guard) and Lupita Nyong’o (representing the new), actresses who seem to make statements with whatever they wear. I wouldn’t count Madonna out, or Kim K either – both either miss or hit spectacularly with no in-between. Since camp is all about irony, humor, parody, theatricality, and exaggeration I’d say any other ladies I’ve listed could easily end up with ‘Best Of…” tomorrow morning.

*Camp Town Races – Johnny Cash