Frida Kahlo wardrobe exhibited in Mexico City

Iconic Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo wardrobe exhibited in Mexico City

Frida Kahlo wardrobe exhibited in Mexico City
Over 300 artifacts belonging to the late Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo or inspired by her are put up for the first time in Mexico City. Diego Rivera, husband of famous painter, didn’t let exhibit his wife’s wardrobe until half a century after her death. Puffy skirts, embroidered corsets and dresses, and items illustrating the influence of Frida Kahlo on the modern fashion. Each image is a riot of colors, ornaments, embroidery, loose cut, flower pattern and solid gold jewelry.
She always contrasted with the society of her time, putting on a colorful, embroidered with “peasant” blouses and long skirts. She made wearing folkloric Mexican costume look modern. However, the clothes were for Kahlo the way to hide her physical disabilities, she was forced to always wear a corset, long skirts to hide her deformed body. “Frida and Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting” runs from October 20, 2012 to January 20, 2013

A restoration expert arranges the ruffles on a blouse that belonged to iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo at the “Blue House” in the neighborhood of Coyoacan in Mexico City September 27, 2012

Famed for her colorful but disturbing self-portraits, that unabashed mono-brow, a turbulent marital relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera and a raft of severe health problems, Kahlo, who was born in 1907, has fascinated art lovers for decades.

But now the mist is clearing over a little more of her life, thanks to a new exhibition of her clothes, orthopedic paraphernalia and even prosthetic limbs being displayed inside one of the Mexico City homes she shared with her husband.

Kahlo’s Dresses displays 300 accessories, corsets, clothes and health contraptions worn by Kahlo that have been locked away for over 50 years since her death in 1954, aged 47.

When she was 18, a metal tube pierced through her abdomen during a bus crash, subjecting her to painful operations and long periods of bed rest throughout her life. She had her right leg amputated in 1953, a year before her death.

The fascinating artifacts including jewellery, a corset emblazoned with the Communist logo, shawls, photographs, and a number of her trademark brightly colored dresses, shirts and skirts.

Mexican surrealist painter Kahlo has always been something of an enigma.
Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality”.