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Home • Fashion

These Black Fashion Icons Mastered Tonight's 'Camp' Theme Long Before The Met Gala

The art of excess.
These Black Fashion Icons Mastered Tonight's 'Camp' Theme Long Before The Met Gala
Diana Ross
By Jessica Wilkins · Updated October 23, 2020

It’s Met Gala Monday–fashion’s biggest night! The star-studded party, which raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, attracts a-list celebs decked out in over-the-top looks.

This year’s exhibit is an homage to the art of “Camp,” but what does the term even mean?  In case you don’t have time to read the 1964 essay that inspired this year’s theme (Notes on Camp by Susan Sontag)–we’ve spared you the 58 bullet point explanation with our own truncated version. Camp is a sensibility or aesthetic that celebrates humor, costume, exaggeration, irony, high glamour and what we’d unwittingly call “being extra.” 

These Black Fashion Icons Mastered The Art of ‘Camp’ Long Before The Met Gala
Grace Jones

Birthed in the underground, you can’t talk about camp without celebrating the icons who brought it to the mainstream. Seen in classic films like 1990’s Paris is Burning, it’s an aesthetic that’s better understood visually than verbally. So, get into these rule-breaking icons that embodied the art of excess long before the Met Gala made it a thing.

RUPAUL

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JOSEPHINE BAKER

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DIANA ROSS

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PRINCE

These Black Fashion Icons Mastered The Art of ‘Camp’ Long Before The Met Gala
Prince

GRACE JONES

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BEYONCE

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ANDRE 3000

These Black Fashion Icons Mastered The Art of ‘Camp’ Long Before The Met Gala
Andre 3000

BILLY PORTER

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PARIS IS BURNING CAST

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DONNA SUMMER

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LITTLE RICHARD

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LIL KIM

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RIHANNA

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NICKI MINAJ

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LABELLE

These Black Fashion Icons Mastered The Art of ‘Camp’ Long Before The Met Gala
Patti LaBelle
TOPICS:  Beyonce Diana Ross Grace Jones Nicki Minaj Prince RuPaul