Some Notes on Spring’s Campiest Accessories

As you well know by now, camp is the theme of the 2019 Met Gala. But what is camp, exactly? The cultural critic Susan Sontag defined camp as the “essence of the unnatural” in her 1964 essay “Notes on Camp” that serves as the backbone of the Met’s Costume Institute exhibit. In Sontag’s understanding of this notoriously thorny and difficult-to-define sensibility, camp exists when style is prioritized over content. In most instances, this means camp is about the theatrical, the synthetic, and the bizarre—all of which are excellent ideas to bring into your accessories this spring.

One way to do camp sensibility is with a delightfully odd shoe, like Gucci’s strawberry-printed leather sneakers or a pair of subversively polished PVC pumps. Looking for the perfect piece of jewelry? Consider a chunky chain link necklace that raises the lowly chain to a starring role or a lipstick-charm pendant that turns a beauty staple into a piece of kitschy flair. Even your phone can get a campy upgrade thanks to Off-White’s very literal phone case. It was Sontag, after all, who wrote, “Camp sees everything in quotation marks.”

Here, 19 accessories to get you ready for the Met Gala.