The Wardrobe of an Icon Locked Away for 50 Years
Frida Kahlo is undeniably an icon, not just for Mexican and Chicana girls, but across the globe. Her fearlessness is one aspect of what makes her such a strong role model. Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter mostly known for her self portraits “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” She grew up in Coyoacan and originally intended to study medicine. She was involved in a serious traffic injury at the age of eighteen and from then on she worked on her art. Kahlo married the famous muralist Diego Rivera in 1937 when she was 22.
Kahlo become iconic not just for her painting, but also for her wardrobe. She embodied what it meant to be a proud Mexicana. Due to the injuries that she suffered during the traffic injury Frida prefered to keep her legs covered. Diego introduced Kahlo to different styles of clothing, but insisted that she stay true to her Mexican roots by not wearing western clothing, so Frida often wore long and colorful traditional Tehuana dresses.
Kahlo died in 1954 at the age of 47, but Diego lived on until 1957. Diego and Frida lived together in the Blue House (La Casa Azul). It was Frida’s childhood home and is now the Frida Kahlo Museum. When Frida died Diego locked some of her precious belongings, including her wardrobe in a bathroom within the Blue House. He requested that the room not be opened until 15 years after his death. The room was opened in 2004, 47 years later.
In 2011 a self-taught photographer by the name of Ishiuchi Miyako traveled from Japan to Mexico and was given the opportunity to take photos of the items found inside the closet. Miyako’s photographs give us a glimpse into the everyday life of an icon. Frida cultivated her iconic style by incorporating traditional Mexican styles, her distinctive unibrow, and her beautiful braids intertwined with flowers. She showed us that “at the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.”
"I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you." - Frida Kahlo