Why the new V&A exhibition is all the permission you need to break out the Frida florals this summer

There comes a moment in every holiday when a woman is forced to confront the gap between her Holiday Self and Home Self. Often, that moment arrives in a market setting – dusty, clamorous, full of unidentifiable scents – possibly in front of a display of chunky resin necklaces. And no matter the conviction with which our woman believes that, yes, she will wear that coin-embellished, belly-dancing hip scarf at home, she will unpack it and never think of it again.

This phenomenon is why three Guatemalan huipiles languish in my under-bed drawers. But this summer, I’ve found a good reason to break out the bird- and flower-embroidered shirts and merge Holiday Me with Home Me. That reason is Frida Kahlo.

From top left: Pippa Holt kaftan, ￡460, Net-a-porter.com; wallpaper headpiece, ￡75, Wolf & Moon; cross-stitch top, ￡113, Needle & Thread; trainers, ￡34, Paco Chicano x Bensimon

Kahlo was the Mexican artist whose unflinching self-portraits made her one of the most famous artists of the early 20th century.

Her personal style helped, too. Kahlo used traditional Mexican clothing – embroidered folk dresses, square-cut blouses, tiered skirts and bright red boots – to create an indelible impression on everyone she met, and everyone who met her through her paintings. Floral headpieces and surrealist jewellery made fantastical finishing touches.

After years of seeing her fashion influence appear mainly in the form of festival flower crowns, we’re now in the midst of a Frida bonanza. The vivid floral embroideries you’ve noticed on dresses, tops and handbags are part of this wave.

So was Christian Dior’s recent cruise show, for which designer Maria Grazia Chiuri imported a troupe of Mexican escaramuza riders and outfitted every last model in densely embroidered dresses and tiered skirts.

Q&A | The woman behind the V&A exhibition

The obvious catalyst to all this Fridaness is Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, a new exhibition of artefacts at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. It’s why this summer, we’re going to see a lot more technicolour embroidered folk dresses, tops and yes, even flower crowns. And why not? We could all use any excuse to be more Frida.

Tracking the trend 

1971: Hippie florals

After Kahlo, some of the first women to embrace her vibrant, heavily embroidered style of folk dressing were the hippies of the late Sixties and early Seventies (including this Vogue model from 1971).

2002: Frida for a new century

The Mexico City premiere of the film Frida marked the culmination of a multi-year campaign by actress and producer Salma Hayek to make a biopic about Kahlo’s life. Hayek celebrated by channelling her muse on the red carpet (and by going on to clinch a Best Actress Oscar nomination).

2018: Dior Cruise

Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri looked to Mexico’s escaramuza horsewomen as inspiration for her 2019 Cruise collection – the troupe of riders wore layered, embroidered skirts and dresses for a performance.