A new V&A exhibition examines the artist’s enduring image. But is fashion’s co-opting of her aesthetic reductive or true to her maverick spirit?
Frida Kahlo is wearing a long, tiered cotton skirt, teamed with a high-necked, ruffled blouse. The photographer has crouched at ground level to take the shot so that she looms larger than life in the frame, the defiant uptilt of her chin emphasised. She holds a vintage embroidered scarf, but bears it above her head in a way to suggest holding a banner or a flag rather than seeking shade or modesty.
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