Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and More Met Gala Guests Who’ve Already Mastered Camp on the Red Carpet

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Along the center spine of the catalog that accompanies the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s latest Costume Institute exhibition, “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” there is an Oscar Wilde quote that reads: “One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art.” The quip underscores this year’s exhibit, which centers on Susan Sontag’s famous essay “Notes on Camp,” but it also seems to have been the mantra for many Met Gala red carpets of the past. Even for gala themes such as fashion in the technology era and the Catholic Church, celebrities have been quick to choose dazzlingly fabulous and one-of-a-kind looks. It’s why they call it the Oscars of fashion: Nowhere else will you see Rihanna walking the red carpet in couture Maison Margiela papal garb, or Zayn Malik wearing a robot-inspired custom Versace suit. In this way, the Met Gala has always been a celebration of camp, because it’s always been about championing fashion with a capital F.

Sontag points out at the beginning of her essay that camp is a sensibility—and that sensibility can apply to almost anything. Each year, the invitation to the gala comes with a dress code that those lucky enough to attend do their best to interpret. Many have championed camp style, intentionally or not. Amber Valetta winked at one of the earliest ages of excess in a Marie Antoinette wig and corsetry, playing up the spirit of the 2004 exhibit “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century.” In 2009, Madonna turned up to celebrate “Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion” dressed as a cheeky, Louis Vuitton–bedecked Playboy Bunny in a custom minidress and ears designed by then creative director Marc Jacobs. And speaking of Marc, in 2012 he wore an even cheekier sheer lace shirtdress with white boxers underneath, blurring gender lines and putting his own spin on the “naked dress” trend.

As Sontag wrote, “The whole point of camp is to dethrone the serious.” It’s about “the metaphor of life as theater” and about fantasy, not about thematic dressing or strict dress codes. It’s about headwear, trompe l’oeil, feathers, and historical homages. All the Met Gala red carpet is a stage, and all the men and women merely players in uninhibited sartorial frivolity. Here are 20 stars who took Wilde’s advice and turned fashion into art, long before camp had a starring role at the Met.

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In celebration of last year’s exhibition, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” Rihanna wore a custom Maison Margiela dress, cape, and hat modeled on traditional papal garb. It was irreverent, glamorous, derivative, and over-the-top: all things fashion camp.

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Sarah Jessica Parker caught a lot of flak for her 2016 Met Gala look from Monse. The actress chose a Hamilton-inspired trouser-and-tailcoat ensemble for the event, which celebrated the opening of the museum’s “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.” She later explained that she hadn’t wanted to wear something celebrating modern technology or even future technology, but instead the innovation of thought and production that occurred in the 18th century.

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Lady Gaga embodies all that is considered camp, and her choice to go to the Met Gala pantless, in custom Versace, in 2016 highlighted her dedication to Sontag’s notes. Plus, a sky-high platform shoe is always a great camp fashion standby.

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In 1999, Liv Tyler and Stella McCartney poked fun at themselves being the offspring of iconic musicians when they wore DIY tees to the Met that read: “Rock Royalty.”

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Talk about being “anti-serious”: Marc Jacobs is the king of playful fashion, and his sheer black lace shirtdress proved just as much at the 2012 Met Gala. The gender-defying red carpet look was so bad it was amazing.

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Last year, Jared Leto and Lana Del Rey went all out in their quest to redefine religious garb at the Met Gala. Both wore custom Gucci and were adorned in dramatic headpieces that certainly made for grand and glitzy red carpet theater.

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Ornate headwear is often a marker of camp style, à la Cardi B in bedazzled Moschino by Jeremy Scott at the 2018 Met Gala.

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Frances McDormand also showed off a seriously dazzling headpiece on last year’s red carpet. Her Valentino cape was wildly dramatic, and McDormand, not known for her fashion flair, clearly had fun playing the role of red carpet showstopper.

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For the 2004 Met Gala, celebrating “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century,” model Amber Valletta wore a wig, a Maggie Norris couture corset, and a John Galliano skirt in honor of Marie Antoinette.

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Madonna has celebrated ideas of camp throughout her prolific music career. When it comes to fashion, she is never afraid to take a risk or teeter on the edge of irony. In 2009, she wore Louis Vuitton bunny ears and a matching minidress with thigh-high boots, perhaps poking fun at the theme of “Model as Muse,” with a wink at the iconic Playboy Bunny.

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Scottish-American actor Alan Cumming attended the Met Gala in 2001 and celebrated his heritage by wearing a traditional kilt and knee-high boots. He was paying homage to a different time, one in which men wore skirts and berets and left their shirts unbuttoned.

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In 2011, Vogue Japan’s Editor-at-Large Anna Dello Russo topped off her Alexander McQueen evening suit with a sparkling sculptural egg fascinator. She told reporters on the red carpet that she’d worn it because “it was Easter a week ago. I thought it was good to stick pieces of Easter to my head.”

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Model Lily Cole referenced a feminine punk sensibility for the 2013 Met Gala by wearing a corseted, balloon-shaped gown designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood, subverting tradition with a sheer—and shimmering—skirt.

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Katy Perry went for camp absurdity last year by donning a theatrical set of feathered, gold-trimmed wings.

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Guo Pei’s gilded, fur-lined cape, worn to the Met Gala in 2015 by Rihanna, certainly qualifies as wearable art. Not to mention that it inspired many memes, including one that made the 16-foot train look like an omelette cooking in a shallow pan.

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Wild prints and pop-culture references are both signifiers of camp fashion, and Kirsten Dunst exemplified each of them when she wore a Rodarte Star Wars gown to the 2014 Met Gala in celebration of “Charles James: Beyond Fashion.”

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The hat, the androgynous silhouette, the attitude, and the glittering balaclava: Janelle Monáe is a master when it comes to camp, and she turned up looking the part in 2018.

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Adding metal robot arms to a sharp black-tie suit? Zayn Malik’s custom Versace look for “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology” was every bit the theatrical statement that Sontag had once described. This was Zayn's first time down the red carpet with beau Gigi Hadid. The duo made quite an entrance and turned heads with their show-stopping looks (and grand entrance).

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In 2016, Zac Posen designed a classic ball gown for Claire Danes that, in a camp twist, was not what it appeared to be at first glance. As she stepped off the red carpet and into the dimly lit Met Gala, the gown lit up with LED panels running throughout the seams.

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Cher’s “naked dress,” designed by Bob Mackie and worn in 1974, was one of the most provocative looks to ever appear at the Met Gala. Embellished with feathers and sequins, it turned heads and redefined the idea of sexy, body-enhancing dressing on the red carpet. It was one of the most buzzed about looks of the evening and remains and iconic camp look.

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