Frida Kahlo: Fashion Icon of the Latin American folk

“Las apariencias engañan” was titled the exhibition which gathers over 300 items, including dresses, shoes, jewelry, perfumes and other personal belongings of famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo found in her Blue House, located in the south of Mexico City, where she and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, lived until their death.

The exhibition includes dresses featured by its exquisite embroidery and colors, very typical of Mexican folklore, besides three artistic corsets, one designed in leather by French designer Jean Paul Gaultier for the Japanese brand Comme des Garcons, dedicated in memory of the painter, who made famous self-portraits and her work highlighted the native Mexican culture.

This exposition also shows three dresses designed in flowers, lace and cotton, produced by Italian Riccardo Tisci for French luxury brand Givenchy and were inspired by the life and image of Frida.

One room is devoted to nine Tehuana dresses, typical female garments of the Tehuantepec Isthmus, in southern Mexico, where Frida’s mother was born.

The costumes restored over the past eight years will be exhibited by pieces at the Blue House, within an initiative involving the fashion magazine Vogue, which in 1937 dedicated  one of its glamorous interviews to the artist, despite her political activism for the Communist Party.