If You Were Confused By The ‘Camp’ Met Gala Theme I’m Here To Clarify

When the theme for this year’s Met Gala was revealed to be “camp” a few people were pretty confused. Including Celine Dion, who genuinely thought that meant camping, like with tents and s’mores, and was 100% down to go along with that theme anyway because she’s Celine Dion.

So let’s clarify what camp actually means.

The term has been around for quite a while, at least since the early 1900’s, and it’s used to describe style, taste, and mannerisms that are exaggerated, whimsical, unapologetically bold, and often theatrical.

And, most importantly, camp was created by the gay community.

In fact, the first time the word camp appeared in a dictionary was in 1909, where the definition was literally, “characteristic of homosexuals,” which is gross stereotyping and obviously very dated language, but it’s still vitally important that we all recognize and acknowledge that camp is an LGBT invention.

I’d take you on a nice stroll through the history and evolution of camp over the last 100 or so years but I know we have memes to get to. Fast forward to the 1970’s — by this point camp had evolved into a niche culture driven by drag queens.

Notably, actor and singer Divine — the star of the cult classic Pink Flamingos. The movie where, yes, she did eat literal dog shit for one scene.

And New York City’s Club Kids of the 80’s and 90’s, one of whom was the iconic RuPaul.

So unless you’re part of or at least familiar with drag culture, “camp” up until this point probably only made you think of sleeping outside, mosquitos, and that one guy who always brings an acoustic guitar to play by the fire even though he can only play half of Wonderwall by Oasis. Now that you know that to be campy is to be playful and extravagant, hopefully you’ll see the Met Gala looks in a new light, have a new appreciation for the stars who truly turned the hell out, and for drag culture as a whole.

Published at Tue, 07 May 2019 20:58:34 +0000