Vintage style inspiration: Frida Kahlo

As well as making a statement about her national identity, Frida continually used her clothing to challenge convention. In a family photograph taken when she was 21, Frida stands alongside her sisters in their long flowing dresses – in a man’s suit, glaring at the camera.

When she was divorced from Diego in 1940, Frida threw off her Tehuana costume and reclaimed her bold 21 year-old self. In Self Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940) Frida adopts a man’s suit and short hair, holding the scissors in her hand, her hair litters the floor and her eyes challenge the viewer.

When she remarried Diego, Frida put her long skirts back on, but in a 1943 self-portrait, Thinking of Diego, she wears a tiny portrait of her husband like a headdress. In her art at least Frida could present herself as possessing the upper hand during the many affairs throughout the marriage, her own as well as Diego’s.

Today, Frida Kahlo is well known for her colourful life. Feminist art historians have reclaimed her as a precursor to other female artists, like Cindy Sherman, who explore identity through the female form. Her home, La Casa Azul, in Coyoacán, Mexico, is now a museum showcasing some of her art and possessions.

In her diary, towards the end of her life, Frida worried that her work was not enough, “simply an expression of my own self,” but in multiple self-portraits she presented many different selves, each equally colourful and passionate.

Pages: 1 2

Tags: featured, Frida Kahlo, vintage style inspiration

Category: 1920s and earlier, 1930s, Fashion, Vintage news, Vintage Style Icons