Camp Philosophy :: The Power of Attention

How many times have you read or heard these phrases, or at least the word camp, outside of the context of the woodland activity? Camp is the act standing out with your fashion choices, and by stand out, I mean in the uncanny and absurd sense. 

You see camp permeate popular culture slowly and more vigorously as each new fashion season passes. You see it in logo-laden dresses and suits, giant, ruffled shirt sleeves, and in asymmetrical dresses saturated in color. Camp is standing out and making a statement with the strange. 

Most importantly, camp is tied to queer roots through drag performers, androgynous dressers, and by most people in the LGBTQ community who want to stand out and be who they are.

Queerness and campiness have its origins around the world dating from dating back to the early 17th century from French playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known as Moliere. “Camp about one leg. Strut like a comedy king.” It would later be referenced as men who dressed up like women. Some notable examples would be of Chevalier d’Eon, who dressed as a woman to infiltrate the courts of Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. 

Camp became more synonymous with French and English queer culture in the Victorian era. During that time, two men, known as “Fanny and Stella,” dressed as women in public, who were later arrested and persecuted for their behavior.

Later Camo was heavily championed by Oscar Wilde with his “outlandish” fashion choices and mannerisms, despite the persecution of homosexuality in the late-19th century Wilde chose to give into his desires to be preserved outside of his contemporaries. His look at the time and even now described as “dandy” was in fact camp in full force. His elaborate Coates, his stockings, and strutting around with a cane and embroidered overcoat was the definition of camp. 

You may wonder why this is so important that I speak about the queer history of camp? That is because even now as a queer person you may unintentionally walk and talk camp. We choose to be camp even without realizing it. When you decide to do your makeup extravagantly or wear that outfit everyone tells you is a bit too weird, you chose to be camp; you chose queer culture. Even your small choices that may go against the grain, a subconscious choice to draw attention, are a tiny bit of camp.

Champions of our LGBTQ rights Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson also rocked camp fashion from time to time. Those who practice the art of drag are provocateurs of camp. The over-the-top makeup, costumes, wigs, and stage presence is all camp, in its most distilled form. Giving yourself over to camp does not make you a joke or a prop of performative masculinity or femininity, it makes you a pioneer for originality and an advocate for yourself without words. 

You can choose and should choose camp in the name of LGBTQ rights. Camp second to words is the most powerful form of advocating for yourself and should be taken in high regard. Stay bold; stay beautiful, and stay camp.