Music stars were among those walking – nay, sashaying and strutting – the pink carpet Monday night at the 2019 Met Gala, Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion, at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Camp, of course, means “deliberately exaggerated and theatrical in style” and, for men, “ostentatiously effeminate.” In all but a few cases (here’s looking at you, Kanye) the celebrities delivered.
“I was a little bit confused when I heard camp,” Canada’s queen of camp Céline Dion told E! on her way in. “I thought it meant camping, like we're going camping, and everyone's going to stay and sleep all night together.”
Dion wore a champagne-coloured Oscar de la Renta design and a hat of peacock feathers. With her arms outstretched, the singer was equal parts Vegas showgirl and fresh drying pasta.
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Her fellow Canadian Shawn Mendes claimed to be equally in the dark about the theme. “When someone was like ‘it’s camp,’ I was like, camping gear? Like tents?,” he told Vogue.
Mendes attended the gala solo (last year he escorted pal Hailey Baldwin, who showed up by herself this year) in a black Saint Laurent suit and with streaks of gold in his hair.
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Lady Gaga, who built a career on camp, showed up in a bright pink Brandon Maxwell dress but stripped down to a black dress, then a pink slip dress, then finally a bra and panties. As one does.
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No bra for Harry Styles, who exposed nipples (gasp!) in a frilly sheer black top by Gucci designer Alessandro Michele (with whom he posed), paired with black pants and heels. Painted fingernails and a plethora of rings (great name for his next album), added just the right amount of femininity.
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Rap superstar Cardi B dazzled in a oxblood tulle and silk organza gown by Thom Browne with a round train trimmed in feathers that requires five people to manage.
Luckily, Cardi’s dress made it difficult for her to easily access her shoes, making it safe for Nicki Minaj to arrive in her pink bedazzled custom Prabal Gurung minidress with massive train.
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Minaj wasn’t the only music artist looking pretty in pink – country singer Kacey Musgraves attended the gala in a Barbie-approved pink outfit by Jeremy Scott for Moschino.
Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto turned heads with his accessory – a clutch in the form of his decapitated head. It stole the show from his red silk jewel-encrusted Gucci gown.
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Another man of music was decidedly less camp. Nick Jonas, who arrived with wife Priyanka Chopra, simply added silver sparkle – including his shoes – to a white Dior suit. (Actor Liam Hemsworth, in a simple black suit, was equally happy to let his wife – Miley Cyrus in Saint Laurent – get the spotlight.)
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Florence Welch came to slay in a dragon-inspired Gucci cape over a diaphanous dress, its colour a perfect pairing with her ginger hair.
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It was hard not to keep an eye on Janelle Monáe at the Met Gala because her Christian Siriano dress literally had an eye on it. And, it was a blinking eye.
The colourful costume was inspired by the singer’s passion for Dali and Picasso but stayed true to her trademark black-and-white.
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No one came to the Met Gala this year as lit as Katy Perry. The pop star looked like something out of Beauty and the Beast On Ice in a chandelier get-up by Jeremy Scott of Moschino. And yes, the bulbs illuminated thanks to a pair of battery packs attached to her corset.
Perry also balanced a smaller chandelier on her head, all whilst walking the pink carpet in Judith Leiber heels.
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