Camp: Notes on Fashion @ The Met in New York

Gallery View, Failed Seriousness
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, BFA.com/Zach Hilty

Gallery View, Title Gallery
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, BFA.com/Zach Hilty

Gallery View, Part 2
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, BFA.com/Zach Hilty

Gallery View, Outrageous Aestheticism Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, BFA.com/Zach Hilty

Ensemble, Jeremy Scott (American, born 1975) for House of Moschino (Italian, founded 1983), spring/summer 2018; Courtesy of Moschino.
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Johnny Dufort, 2019

Dress, Jeremy Scott (American, born 1975) for House of Moschino (Italian, founded 1983), spring/summer 2017; Courtesy of Moschino.
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Johnny Dufort, 2019

Gallery View, Sontagian Camp
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, BFA.com/Zach Hilty

Gallery View, Accessories Case
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, BFA.com/Zach Hilty

Ensemble, Bertrand Guyon (French, born 1965) and headpiece by Stephen Jones (British, born 1957) for House of Schiaparelli (French, founded 1927), fall/winter 2018–19 haute couture; Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Johnny Dufort, 2019

Ensemble, Alessandro Michele (Italian, born 1972) for Gucci (Italian, founded 1921), fall/winter 2016–17; Courtesy of Gucci Historical Archive.
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Johnny Dufort, 2018

Ensemble, Virgil Abloh (American, born 1980) for Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh (Italian, founded 2013), pre-fall 2018; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Virgil Abloh c/o Off- WhiteTM, 2018 (2018.585a–e).
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Johnny Dufort, 2018

Wedding Ensemble, Alejandro Gómez Palomo (Spanish, born 1992) for Palomo Spain (Spanish, founded 2015), spring/summer 2018; Courtesy of Palomo Spain.
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Johnny Dufort, 2019

The Met Costume Institute’s spring 2019 exhibition, Camp: Notes on Fashion, explores the origins of camp’s exuberant aesthetic and how the sensibility evolved from the margins of society to become an important influence on mainstream culture. Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay, “Notes on ‘Camp’,” provides the framework for the exhibition by examining how fashion designers have used their métier to engage with camp in a myriad of compelling, humorous, and sometimes incongruous ways. The exhibition features approximately 250 objects, including womenswear and menswear, as well as sculptures, paintings, and drawings dating from the 17th century to the present.

Camp: Notes on Fashion is on view through September 8 at The Met Fifth Avenue 1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY. photographs courtesy of The Met Costume Institute

Rachel Comey's Pre-Spring 2019 Runway Show @ The Old Bullocks Wilshire Department Store In Los Angeles

In Rachel Comey's daring new pre-spring collection vivid colors, along with delicate, varying textures and proportions abound as she responds to the current moment. A moment emboldened by an undercurrent of resistance and irreverence towards dominant structures long overdue for upheaval. Setting the stage of her runway show at the old Bullocks Wilshire department store where Helen Gurley Brown used to be a secretary and Angela Lansbury was a salesclerk, she takes inspiration from the space by embellishing materials and decorating the silhouettes themselves - layering tulle belts over zebra denim or colorblocked wool trousers. Hand cut and dyed flowers dangle from the ear, sit at the neck or frame the face. A zebra jacquard is used for volume on top and to finish the look in a purposeful wedge sandal. In the spirit of Katherine Hepburn who used to shop here for shoes in the men's department, she has proposed new tuxedos and other alternative ideas for event dressing. Fringe and rhinestone decorate the legs and feathers are used in one gesture at the neck or from the ear, while in other moments the body is stripes.