The Victoria and Albert Museum have announced their first major fashion exhibition of 2018 — a tribute to Frida Kahlo’s famously vibrant wardrobe. The show, which is as yet unnamed, will run from 16 June 2018, and aims to give a new look at the Mexican artist’s compelling life story through her most intimate personal belongings. The exhibition presents an extraordinary collection of personal artefacts — including her clothes, accessories, jewellery, prosthetics, medicines, photographs and letters — and will be the first time it’s been shown outside Frida’s native Mexico.
The artist’s bright, traditional style was frequently seen as an extension of her artistic work, and some of her most famous paintings, including My Dress Hangs There (1933) and The Love Embrace (1943), will also be displayed alongside her hand-painted dresses and corsets.
The majority of pieces in the collection were discovered in 2004 in The Blue House, where Frida was born in 1907, and died in 1954. In 1958 her husband Diego Rivera bequeathed the house as a museum to honour Frida. It wasn’t until 2004, however, that the discovery of artefacts was made, following the opening of cupboards and storerooms that had remained sealed for fifty years.
In a statement released today, the V&A said: “This ground-breaking exhibition will explore the development of Kahlo’s style as an amalgam of traditional Mexican garments, fashion from Europe and beyond, and demonstrate how her wardrobe was expressive of the complex relationship between her Mexican and Western heritage.”
Frida Kahlo’s wardrobe (title TBC) will open at V&A 16 June 2018.