By Rachel Gorman-Cooper
In 1964, Susan Sontag published her critical essay, “Notes on Camp,” defining a new age of sensibility, the response and appreciation to all things illogical, over-the-top, and aesthetic- Camp.
The essay is a manifesto, listing what Camp is not more than what it is. Beginning the essay with her take on “sensibility,” Sontag says that it is distinct from an idea. In this case, Camp is a sensibility that converts the serious into the frivolous. Frivolity doesn’t automatically ensure kitschy, though. Some kitschy things can be Camp, but not all things Camp are kitschy. And kitschiness doesn't automatically ensure silliness. Sontag proposes two possible Camp manifestations: the Camp that proposes itself seriously but can’t be taken that way because it is too much, and the Camp that doesn’t intend to be either, but takes the form of one.
Camp is not self-aware. Camp doesn’t know itself to be camp. Camp is either completely naive or else wholly conscious.
Although Camp is hard to define, hard to create, and even harder to detect, it is not necessarily naturally occurring. “The essence of camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration.”
We come full circle: camp is a sensibility. It’s seeing the world through the lens of style, everything is fashion. Camp is “style over content, aesthetics over morality, irony over tragedy.” Camp is modern dandyism, in the age of mass culture. Camp sees everything in quotation marks, and it glorifies “character.”
Camp is confusing. Don’t be mistaken, camp does not reverse things, it simply follows standards which we aren’t used to seeing, if it follows any standards at all.
To me, Camp screams high fashion. High Fashion resists Camp, however, trying to be intentional, universally beloved, refined, serious, and natural. However, it’s undeniable legacy is Camp. The most charitable and revolutionary thing that the fashion community can do is treat Camp as our rubric, for analysis, design, and inspiration of runway clothing.
