Camp is a term that gained popularity in 1964 when Susan Sontag published her book “Notes on “Camp””. Camp also had a major resurgence in 2019 when The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated an entire exhibition that was inspired by Sontag’s book.

Camp & Charles Frederick Worth

Many of Charles Frederick Worth’s designs can be defined as Camp. One of his designs that exhibit Camp the most is his dress that features realistic looking flowers that ascend down the skirt of the gown. Worth also created a gown with beautiful butterfly images and motifs on a light blue silk fabric, which also can be defined as Camp. Another light blue gown Worth created exhibits motifs of the night sky, such as stars and unique clouds that detail the gown that sparkles with beads, this too is an excellent example of Camp. Worth created a simple black gown that relates to Camp because it emulates the forever classic, little black dress.

Highlights from “Notes on “Camp””, by Susan Sontag:

In the Book, “Notes on “Camp”’, Sontag provided readers with a list explaining exactly what is Camp and what is most certainly not Camp:

1. “Camp is a certain mode of aestheticism. It is one way of seeing the as an aesthetic phenomenon.” (Sontag, 2) In other words, Camp does not always have to be defined as beauty or grace, but can also be seen as artificial and stylized.

3. “Not only is there a camp vision, a Camp way of looking at things… There are “campy” movies, clothes, furniture… But not everything can be seen as Camp.” (Sontag, 2) Camp is not always a simple matter of opinion depending on who is observing it.

4. “Random examples of items which are part of the canon of Camp:... Tiffany Lamps… The Enquirer, headlines and stories… Swan Lake… Bellini’s operas… certain turn-of-the century picture postcards… women’s clothes of the twenties (feather boas, fringed and beaded dresses, ect.)” (Sontag, 3) These items give readers a clue as to how to properly categorize and better understand Camp.

5. “Camp has an affinity for certain arts rather than others. Clothes, furniture… all make up a large part of Camp. For Camp is often a decorative art, emphasizes texture, sensual surface, and style at the expense of content.” (Sontag, 3) It is possible for an entire art to simply always be associated with Camp, the opera, ballet, and even many movies.

7. “All Camp objects, and personas, contain a large element of artifice. Nothing in nature can be campy….” (Sontag, 3) Anything that attempts to present itself as natural is still man made as Sontag puts it. Most of the time something that is Camp is considered urban as well.

8. “Camp is a vision of the world in terms of style… It is the love of the exaggerated, the “off”, of things-being-what-they-are-not.” (Sontag, 3) In this case, Sontag refers to the style and genre of Art Nouveau, and how the majority of Art Nouveau is considered to be Camp.

13. “The dividing line seems to fall on the 18th century; there the origins of Camp taste are to be found… In the 18th century, people of taste either patronized nature… or attempted to remake it into something artificial…” (Sontag, 4) In other words, Camp today and in 1964, contradicts nature.

14. “...the soundest starting point seems to be the late 17th century and early 18th century, because of that period’s extraordinary feeling for artifice… But in the 19th century, what had distributed throughout all of high culture now becomes a special taste; it takes on overtones of the acute, the esoteric, the preserve.” (Sontag, 5)

15. “Art Nouveau is full of “content,” even of a political-moral sort; it was a revolutionary movement in the arts, spurred on by a Utopian vision.. of an organic potiics and taste.” (Sontag, 5)

18. “One must distinguish between naïve and deliberate Camp. Pure Camp is always naive. Camp which knowns itself to be Camp (“camping”) is usually less satisfying.” (Sontag, 6)

19. “The pure examples of Camp are unintentional; they are dead serious. The Art Nouveau craftsman who makes a lamp with a snake coil around it is not kidding nor is he trying to be charming.” (Sontag, 6)

21. “Camp rests on innocence. That means Camp discloses innocence, but also, when it can, corrupts it.” (Sontag, 6)

22. “Considered a little less strictly, Camp is either completely naive or else wholly conscious (when one plays at being campy).” (Sontag, 6)

23. “In naïve, or pure, Camp, the essential element is seriousness, a seriousness that fails… not all seriousness that fails can be redeemed as Camp.” (Sontag, 7)

25. “The hallmark of Camp is the spirit of extravagance. Camp is a woman walking around in a dress made of three million feathers.” (Sontag, 7)

26. “Camp is art that proposes itself seriously, but cannot be taken altogether seriously because it is “too much.”” (Sontag, 7)

28. “Again, Camp is the attempt to do something extraordinary.” (Sontag, 7)

30. “...the canon of Camp can change. Time has a great deal to do with it.” (Sontag, 8)

31. “This is why so many of the objects prized by Camp taste are old-fashioned, out of date, démodé.” (Sontag, 8)

32. “Camp is the glorification of “character.”” (Sontag, 8)

36. “But there are other creative sensibilities besides the seriousness… of high culture and of the high style of evaluating people.” (Sontag, 9)

38. “Camp is the consistently aesthetic experience of the world.” (Sontag, 10)

39. “There is seriousness in Camp…” (Sontag, 10)

40. “Style is everything.” (Sontag, 10)

41. “The whole point of Camp is to dethrone its seriousness.” (Sontag, 10)

43. The traditional means for going beyond straight seriousness…” (Sontag, 10)

50. “Aristocracy is a position vis-à-vis culture… and the history of Camp taste is part of the history of snob taste.” (Sontag, 12)

54. “The experience of Camp are based on the great discovery that the sensibility of high culture has no monopoly upon refinement.” (Sontag, 13)

55. “Camp taste is, above all, a mode of enjoyment, of appreciation… Camp is generous…” (Sontag, 13)

56. “Camp taste is a kind of love, love for human nature.” (Sontag, 13)

57. “Camp taste nourishes itself on the love that has gone into certain objects and personal styles.” (Sontag, 13)

Camp: Notes on Fashion, at the MET:

The inspiration behind this exhibit was the Camp: Notes on Fashion exhibit that was housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019. The exhibit created an amazing atmosphere that simply encapsulated the Camp theme.