Frida Kahlo's heavy unibrow and technicolor clothes are as recognizable as her art: her image has been replicated on postcards and museum magnets, Barbie dolls and Snapchat filters, jewelry and runway collections. But, like her surreal portraits, Kahlo's appearance was layered, heavy with meaning and intention.
A proud "mestiza" -- a mixed-race woman, born to a German-Hungarian father and a half Spanish, half indigenous Tehuana mother -- Kahlo purposely mixed Western fashions with traditional garb, using her clothes to craft another kind of self-portrait. Through her dress, she constructed an ethnic and political identity that spoke of the same duality found in her paintings, and sent a highly political statement of cultural identity, nationalism, and feminism.
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