Claire Wilcox is Senior Curator in the Department of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Professor in Fashion Curation at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London. Circe Henestrosa is an independent curator and Head of the School of Fashion at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. She curated the exhibition Appearances Can Be Deceiving: The Dresses of Frida Kahlo (Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City, 2012).
Praise for V&A Exhibition Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up which accompanies this book: 'A room of her personal belongings, which had been sealed since her death, was opened, and its contents put on display at the Blue House -it is a real coup for the V&A to be able to borrow this collection.' Jess Cartner-Morley, The Guardian 'an extraordinary testimony to suffering and spirit' The Observer 'Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up is a larger version of the inaugural viewing of the Casa Azul stash that took place in Mexico City earlier this year. It is intimate and epic in scale, the juxtapositioning of artworks with the items that appear in them - here some jewellery, there a headdress - compelling.' Anna Murphy, The Times 'Whatever your preconceptions about Kahlo, it's hard to leave this show unimpressed by her huge resilience, and without feeling just a little in love with this extraordinary woman.' Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph 'Claire Wilcox and Circe Henestrosa... have masterminded a celebration of the artist's style.' Karen Dacre, Evening Standard 'The V&A has now put a generous selection of these intimate contents on show, amplifying them with films of her in action, more photographs, her jewellery, her costumes and a small but gripping array of her fiery self-portraits.' Waldemar Januszczak, Sunday Times Culture