I. Freaked. Out.
Look, I’ll admit it. I thought the Camp theme was going to be too broad, and that most people weren’t going to want to risk enough to really come to play, or that the interpretations would be so vague they wouldn’t actually evoke that.
And I mean, there was some of that – people who looked absolutely pretty but non-essential – but there was so so so much amazingness to choose from, and if I’m honest, half of it is the high-fashion version of loud prints I wore in grade 10. Make of that what you will (or ask me about my pleather clothing collection), and if you need a little nudge, Sasha said this theme was made for me, and she absolutely meant it as a compliment.
The best part is how it’s made me see different celebs in totally new ways – it’s so refreshing, like if everyone at your workplace suddenly got a makeover. It all crystallized in this Cara Delevingne absolute confection:
I love colour, I love stripes. We could stop right there. But the makeup! And the cane! And that HEADPIECE! Teeth and bananas and eyeballs and look, I’m not going to sit here and fashion school you, but it is somehow still restrained. Are you seeing this? And I’m so so excited to have the look go all the way down. It’s easy, it’s playful, it’s fun – but seriously, I love that her legs come out to play, when usually what we’re used to seeing is every permutation of dress or skirt and so much fabric, this makes her the show, and it’s a credit to everyone else that she didn’t immediately become my best dressed.
Yara Shahidi gets to share in some of my joy here too, because even though her outfit is relatively subdued – for her, and for the theme – it still has some of her trademarks: it’s youthful, it’s a little bit sassy, apparently those crystals around her eye were a take on her astrological sign, Aquarius…
…and the girl is wearing leggings. If there’s one thing that says ‘hey I’m still very young, and that’s fine (shout out to Kathleen’s favourite phrase)’ it’s leggings as pants, and I appreciate this very much. Yara and her stylist have said that, “If it doesn’t make us laugh, it doesn’t work” and while I’m not sure this one is hilarious, exactly, it’s definitely got fun, and she looks like she loves it – though I do wonder if there was initially a lime green shag coat instead of the black one she went with.
Oh, and on the laughing front – I could be wrong, but to me these shoes look like they belong to a much more somber affair, or at least a permissive business-casual workplace. Wouldn’t you love someone to make an anonymous Instagram of all the choices left on the hotel room floor as they ran out the door?
