The Annual 2019 Met Gala Will Be ‘Camp’-Themed. Let Us Explain.

The 2019 Met Gala will be a celebration of gregariously over-the-top fashion thanks to its theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion.”

The annual soirée, held on the first Monday in May at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its Costume Institute, has long been acknowledged as “fashion’s biggest night” and its camp theme this year ensures that the famed steps leading up to the museum will be filled with style statements that won’t soon be forgotten.

According to Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, in an interview with Vogue, the 2019 Met Gala theme was inspired by Susan Sontag’s legendary 1964 essay, “Notes on Camp,” in which she describes camp as the “love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration…style at the expense of content.” Bolton found the essay to be especially relevant as it related to the current political and cultural climate.

The gala will fittingly be sponsored by Gucci this year, a brand that has become known in recent years for its whimsical and ostentatious style under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele. Michele will be a co-chair of the night’s festivities, alongside Gucci muse Harry Styles, Lady Gaga (herself a camp impresario in the pop world and beyond), tennis superstar Serena Williams, and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.