KAHLO, FRIDA

ARTISTS ,   K ,   PAINTERS

Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón. She was born in Coyoacán on the 6th of July 1907 and died on the 13th of July 1954 at only 47 years of age.

Frida Kahlo influenced not only art but also fashion. The Mexican artist is in fact an expression of art, passion and revolution, a strong and eccentric personality, intense and vibrant, in some ways counter-current, capable of marking the 20th century art and costume world.

Frida Kahlo: style icon

Style icon in art and culture today

Her influence in pop culture today is more alive than ever. Frida was able to influence celebrities such as Madonna, Lana Del Rey and many others, also for her freedom characterized by the ability to assert her femininity outside the traditional canons. 

However, her life was anything but happy, marked since childhood by serious health problems aggravated by a car accident that caused her permanent disability. 

However, despite her suffering and the dozens of surgical operations she was subjected to, Frida never stopped exploiting her artistic power. Deep and sensitive personality, but also cynical and characterized by a thirst for life that has never been quenched, an indomitable character and a profound artistic genius. 

She had an intense love story with the artist Diego Rivera; but her greatest regret was that of not having had children, in fact she had a miscarriage due to the inadequacy of her physique.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

The look:

Frida Kahlo’s look is characterized by voluminous dresses with ethnic motifs and warm colours. The collections are characterized by wide skirts with bright colours and ethnic and folk motifs of Mexican inspiration, together with floral motifs and references to the ancient pre-Columbian civilizations; but also shirts in eccentric colors, embroidered caftans and scarves.

Many designers have drawn inspiration for their collections and reinterpreted each item of clothing worn by Frida Kahlo in a contemporary way. Among the most famous ones: Gucci, Les Copains, Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier (Spring summer 1998), M Missoni collection for spring summer 2015, Christian Lacroix, Alexander McQueen and Kenzo (Fall-winter 2011-2012).

Face of a new femininity

Frida Kahlo’s face also expresses a new concept of femininity and beauty. The Mexican artist, had thick eyebrows and ebony pencil or the scarcity of the upper lip. This in fact, expresses a new femininity, a symbol of freedom, emancipation and feminism.

Even her lips always characterized by a vermilion red recall her passion for bright and vivid colours. Her hair was gathered with a braid around the head as if to form a crown. These intertwined with floral compositions, ribbons and bows gave it an almost religious aura. 

After her divorce from the artist Diego Rivera in 1939 for his betrayal with Frida’s sister, the Mexican artist cut her hair and here her change of look started: she began to dress as a man, a decidedly revolutionary look for the time. 

Frida Kahlo’s face, makeup and jewelry

Jewels

To interpret Frida Kahlo’s style, however, we cannot leave out the jewels. Her figure is in fact always associated with showy necklaces with ethnic motifs and dangling earrings. Jewels that she makes herself with archaeological finds and decorations of busts and prostheses.  

Frida’s style marked an era in art, and also in the history of costume. She left an important mark, still able to influence designers and stylists today. The Frida Kahlo Museum retains her wardrobe and attracts more than 25,000 visitors every month.

Also read:

The exhibition of Frida Kahlo:“the chaos inside” at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan

The friendship between Frida Kahlo and Leo Matiz

Frida Kahlo in Genoa: an exhibition of 125 thousand visitors