Appearances Are Deceiving: The Dresses of Frida Kahlo at the Frida Kahlo Museum

One of the highlights of my Mexico City trip was visiting the exhibition Las Apariencias Engañan: Los Vestidos de Frida Kahlo ("Appearances Are Deceiving: The Dresses of Frida Kahlo") at the Frida Kahlo Museum. The museum and exhibit are located inside the cobalt Blue House where Kahlo grew up and later lived with Diego Rivera. This temporary exhibition displays Kahlo’s wardrobe for the first time since the dresses were discovered in 2004. Curated by Circe Henestrosa Conoan, the show seeks to explore the ways in which Kahlo constructed her identity and mode of dress in relation to her physical disabilities and ethnicity. Through the pieces on display we learn that Kahlo’s wardrobe choices were a dually conscious effort to both reveal and conceal parts of herself. As I'm currently working on photographic projects dealing with image and identity it felt as if this show was made for me. The exhibition concludes with an examination of Frida's influence on contemporary fashion, placing her work in conversation with that of international designers including Jean Paul Gaultier, Riccardo Tisci, Dai Rees, and Rei Kawakubo. My visit to the Kahlo museum left me with a better understanding of Frida as an individual and gave me the inspiration I was in search of during my visit!

Through January 31, 2014.

MUSEO FRIDA KAHLO
Londres 247, Del Carmen,
Coyoacán, 04100 Ciudad de México,
Mexico
MAP