Vintage style inspiration: Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo chose herself as the object of most of her paintings, exploring her gender and identity through her art. Her clothes and looks were an important prop, not only in her portraits but also in her life. Jen Newby takes a look at a woman whose style continues to fascinate us today.
Frida Kahlo made herself, as much as any of her paintings, into a work of art. With ornate brightly coloured costumes and immaculate makeup, she constantly used herself as a subject, transforming her identity through her appearance, and recording it on canvas. “I am the subject I know best”, she said, painting herself over 55 times; and each one a different Frida.
From exotic traditional Tehuana outfits and elaborate hair arrangements to deliberately unfeminine touches, like men’s clothes and her famous signature monobrow, Frida’s image constantly altered. But her fixed expression in the self-portraits gave nothing away.
Born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón in 1907, Frida began studying medicine, yet became an artist by chance. When a horrific bus accident left Frida bed-ridden for months at 18, she started painting to pass the time. Leaving her medical studies for the art world, Frida became involved in the artistic and intellectual movement promoting Mexican national identity, meeting many famous figures, among them the mural painter, Diego Rivera. Her keen political interest drove her to become a firm Communist later in life, and her last painting is an unfinished portrait of Stalin.
Category: 1930s, Fashion, Pre-1930s, Vintage news, Vintage Style Icons
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Thanks for this great article, Frida Kahlo really was a genius & her own work of art – if you browse Ebay, there’s an incredible amount of Kahlo memorabilia out there. She inspires creativity in others too…
No other woman like her in the world, Kahlo is amazing.