What was the official theme of the 2019 Met Gala exhibition?

The official theme of the 2019 Met Gala exhibition was “Camp: Notes on Fashion.” The exhibition examined camp as an aesthetic of exaggeration, irony, theatricality, humor, and deliberate artificiality.

Its title drew heavily on Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp,’” which helped bring the term into modern cultural discussion. The show presented fashion objects alongside paintings, photographs, film, and performance-related material to show how camp crosses artistic boundaries.

The 2019 gala’s dress code, “camp,” encouraged guests to interpret the idea through extravagant and playful clothing. This is sometimes confused with a general meaning of camping, but the exhibition used camp in the cultural and artistic sense. The event was held on May 6, 2019, and co-chairs included Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Alessandro Michele, and Serena Williams.