A new V&A exhibition examines the artist’s enduring image. But is fashion’s co-opting of her aesthetic reductive or true to her maverick spirit?
Frida Kahlo is wearing a long, tiered cotton skirt, teamed with a high-necked, ruffled blouse. The photographer has crouched at ground level to take the shot so that she looms larger than life in the frame, the defiant uptilt of her chin emphasised. She holds a vintage embroidered scarf, but bears it above her head in a way to suggest holding a banner or a flag rather than seeking shade or modesty.
That portrait appeared in American Vogue in 1937, but everything about the look – the silhouette, embellishment, hairstyle, attitude – would work on the magazine’s pages today. Eighty-one years after that first Vogue appearance – and 64 years after her death – Frida Kahlo is this year’s It girl. In June, her wardrobe will be seen outside Mexico for the first time as part of Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up, a major V&A exhibition about the image of the most iconic female artist in history. She is the muse for several designers this spring, including Roland Mouret and the New York label Cushnie et Ochs. To mark International Women’s Day, Mattel released a Frida Barbie, one of a new collection depicting inspirational women.
This, then, is a proud feminist moment in which fashion is – finally! – glorifying a woman of substance as well as style. But, wait – is her depiction as a glossy style icon a disrespectful and distasteful makeover of a woman who challenged societal expectations of women by, among other things, emphasising her striking unibrow with a Revlon eye pencil in “Ebony”?
For more read the full of article at TheGuardian
