El vestuario de Frida Kahlo / Frida Kahlo’s Wardrobe
Lisa Albrich
Sheldon High School
Eugene, Oregon
Class:
Spanish (This activity can also be adapted to fit into lessons in other disciplines: Social
Studies, Visual Art, and English Language Arts)
Level:
This activity was designed for a Spanish 4/Year 1 IB class, but can easily be changed in
order to be used in other levels.
Content Focus:
Customs and Traditions (IB Option), Cultural Diversity (IB Option), Social Relationships (IB
Core).
Objective:
In this lesson students will study both the wardrobe and artwork of Frida Kahlo to examine
the construction of identity. Students will analyze photographs with Kahlo, as well as her
paintings, to identify and explain how mestizaje and nacionalismo are represented in
Kahlo’s clothing and art. For their final project, students will create a collage modeled after
Kahlo’s Mi vestido cuelga ahí/My Dress Hangs There to tell a personal memory related to
their own identity.
Materials needed
• 11x17 cardboard (Some students may opt to cut down their pieces to better suit their artwork)
• Yarn to hang personal item
• Paper punch to make holes to attach yarn
• Colorful paper and magazines (These items should be provided in class, but most students will probably
choose to use personal photos to construct their collages.)
• Acrylic paints and paintbrushes for students who wish to paint part of their image
Warm-up Activity
Students will be given 5 minutes to think and write about their personal wardrobes.
Questions to be addressed on handout:
• Identify and describe 3 clothing items and/or accessories that you wear most
frequently. What are they and what do they look like?
• When do you wear them?
• Why do you prefer these particular items?
• What do these items say about you? What would someone learn about you by
seeing you wearing these items?
Students will share information with a partner, then some pairs will be asked to share with
whole class. Teacher should connect together students’ ideas and lead to conversation
about clothing and the role it can play in identity, both how we see ourselves and how
others see us.
Presentation
Students will be asked to examine photos of clothing from various parts of the Spanishspeaking world: What does the clothing reveal to us about each individual? (e.g., Can you
tell where the person lives based on his/her clothing?). What is the profession of the
individual? What does she/he like to do? etc.) Teacher will then lead students through a
slide presentation on Kahlo. While the teacher will provide significant input to present
Kahlo’s life and to explain important terms, most slides should be used to illicit responses
and commentary from the students (What are the images that stand out to you in this
painting? Why did you think Kahlo chose to include a pyramid (watermelon, monkey, etc.)
in this painting? etc.). The slide presentation will be divided into the following sections:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Biographical Information on Kahlo
Clothing/Accessories
Paintings
Frida Kahlo as a cultural icon today
The following clips from You Tube highlight Las apariencias engañan: Los vestidos de Frida
Kahlo, an exhibition of Kahlo’s wardrobe at her home in Coyoacán:
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLFMzFp-Po8 (Spanish)
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y85vGXqb-2I (Spanish)
Video 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm2tsRpEwMY (English)
Optional Reading: The article about Kahlo in Mañana: Para usar como complemento del
programa del diploma del BI: Español lengua B presents a brief history of Kahlo’s life. This
article could be assigned as a homework assignment the night prior to beginning this
lesson, or the article could be read in class.
Group Activity
Small teams (3-4 students) will receive either a photo of Frida Kahlo, or one of her
paintings. For their particular piece, students will be asked to identify 3-4 key images and
explain how they contribute to their understanding of Kahlo’s self-identity. Groups will
present to class their photos and paintings along with their findings:
• What do the images tell you about Frida Kahlo’s life? How do the images relate to
her personal history?
• What did she value?
• Based on what you have seen, what would interest Kahlo if she were alive today?
What would bother her?
As students are working in groups, the teacher can play music from the CD Kahlo: Passion
and Music. Songs on this CD reflect the time period in which Kahlo lived. She might have
listened to this music! The soundtrack from the film Frida would be another good choice to
play as background music during this activity.
Individual Project
Kahlo’s Mi vestido cuelga ahí will serve as the model and inspiration for this final project.
Students will choose one personal item to suspend across a personal collage of images that
helps to tell a personal memory and/or explain part of the student’s personal identity.
Students can draw the item or find a picture of it that they can cut out to include on the
college. Three-dimensional objects could also be used to hang on the artwork. As for the
other images used in the collage or painted into the background, students should include at
least one visual to represent a location related to their identity. Kahlo’s work often
included landscape or landmarks that represented her origins or a particular event in her
life.
Students will present their artwork in class, as well as compose a narrative piece describing
the memory or experiences associated with the personal item they have chosen. Both the
collage and written piece should be given a title similar to the one Kahlo gave her own
painting: Mi _________________________ (clothing/personal item) cuelga ahí.
Mi vestido cuelga ahí (1933)
Note: A similar art project can be found in Carol Sabbeth’s book, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Their Lives and Ideas (2005).
Examples of Student Projects
Mi reloj cuelga ahí (Isabel P.)
Mi micrófono cuelga ahí (Erica V.)
Mis pinturas cuelgan ahí (Erica W.)
Mi kimono cuelga ahí (Ava J.)
Mi impermeable cuelga ahí (Payton K.)
Assessment
• Art piece (Rubric to be determined by individual teacher)
• Oral Performance (IB standards)
• Written Assessment (IB standards)
Helpful Resources
BOOKS
• Self Portrait in Velvet Dress: Frida’s Wardrobe, 2007 (Chronicle Books).
• Frida Kahlo, Guide for exhibit at Walker Art Center (Minnesota) and San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, 2007 (Walker Art Center).
MAGAZINE
• Special issue of Vogue México (November 2012).
http://www.vogue.mx/especiales/frida-kahlo