Met Gala: The real reason you couldn’t look away

Editor’s Note: Susan Jonusas is a London-based historian specializing in 18th- and 19th-century popular culture and the history of British cinema. She is working on a book about a family of murderers on the frontier in 1870’s Kansas.
The opinions expressed by this commentary are solely those of the author.

CNN  — 

The Met Gala is an event already famed for pageantry. So why did this year’s theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” blow the top off it Monday night, beginning with a shimmering spectacle of color, sequins and golden wings? (And that was just Kinky Boots actor Billy Porter’s entrance — instantly iconic, and evocative of both Cleopatra and 1920’s Hollywood.)

Susan Jonasus

Though the gala has rarely ever been dull, along with the feathers and glitter there was an electricity on the (this time) pink carpet which made it singular, a particularly apt reaction to the cultural moment. It took its theme (and renewed its currency for 2019) from Susan Sontag’s 1964 “Notes on Camp” essay, which traced camp’s roots back to the 18th century, a period defined by its “extraordinary feeling for artifice” and love of the “picturesque and thrilling.”

Camp is a device of playful subversion and a means of constructing authentic identity. It is present in times of social and political upheaval because it is the ultimate form of visual expression, attracting attention is part of its nature. Yet it also offers escapism, and that helps explain why the gala hit a chord.

In an era defined by Trump, Brexit and ongoing concerns about the suffering environment, our desire for escapism may be reaching new heights. Witness, for one example, the incredible success of “Avengers: Endgame” — which pretty much defines escapism — and, for another, the yen for the alternate universe of “Game of Thrones.”

The gala was likewise a spectacle of escapism — a treat for viewers, celebrities and designers. But it stealthily allowed for the exploration of universal issues and alternate identities through a lens that is proactive and entertaining.

Nowhere were such elements of artifice and picturesque thrills more on display than at the Court of Versailles, to which Sontag had alluded. Versailles was a glittering palace that functioned both as the political and fashion center of France. The man who built it, Louis XIV, was notorious for his extravagance. He became known as the Sun King. A sketch of him dressed to play the role of the sun in a court ballet calls to mind actress Emily Blunt’s gown made up of 510,000 sequins, which Louis no doubt would have appreciated.

Indeed, to be at court was to be constantly on display, and fashion was one of the few ways courtiers could express themselves. By the reign of Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis XVI, fashion was amongst the most ritualized aspects of life at court. It was a way of communicating political affiliation, celebrating military victories and securing a place in the royal inner circle.

Tall powdered wigs featured miniature ships, fans became an integral part of courtship and to be seen in the same outfit twice was a cardinal sin.

Courtiers reveled in what Sontag calls the “spirit of extravagance.” But outside the picturesque gardens of Versailles brewed a nationwide discontent that would eventually culminate in the French Revolution of 1789. At a time in France where the political status quo was increasingly unstable, the court of Versailles produced some of its most outrageous and beautiful clothing. Fashion became a source of escapism and it survived the revolution even though the monarchy did not.

As the opulence of the 18th century began to dissipate, Sontag suggests that the traditional aristocracy were replaced by “aristocrats of taste,” a pattern that has continued to this day and allowed camp to become a tool of marginalized groups. To a contemporary eye it is associated with the latter half of the 20th century with the ascent of gay and civil rights movements and subversion of gender expectations.

Writing on Instagram, Lupita Nyong’o’s hairstylist, Vernon François, explained, for example, that he was inspired by Marie Antoinette, but that the inclusion of Afro picks in the shape of the Black Power fist were a celebration of the role of hair in black identity. By combining the two influences, he explores camp’s history as a transformative concept.

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In a time where we are increasingly preoccupied with identity, camp feels more relevant than ever.

The widespread excitement surrounding the Met Gala’s display reminds us that fashion continues to have the power to surprise, delight and frustrate. It challenges prescribed ideas about how we present ourselves in a constantly changing world and remains one of the key tools in self-expression outside the status quo.