Becoming Frida

If you also follow my friends and family blog, sorry about the nearly-duplicate post. I just felt this had to be shared on both of them.

I took on the character of Frida Kahlo for Halloween this year. It was kinda awesome. Even I was amazed at how much I resembled her. The only item I had to buy to achieve this look was the plush monkey. Everything else came from my own wardrobe or fabric/craft stash. Details on how it came together are below the photos.

“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”

“There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the streetcar, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.”

"I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you.”

“The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.”

“I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.”

“My painting carries with it the message of pain.”

“I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.”


Twisted hairdressing: fabric strips twisted together with parts cut from a cheap wig, coated/stiffened with clear acrylic gesso to keep it tidy, then incorporating my own hair at the top.
Flowers: hairclips from various places over the years. It occurs to me that I have an awful lot of these.
Earrings: some cheap jewelry store a few years ago.
Necklace: belonged to great-grandma.
Bracelets: thrifted.
Monkey: ebay, around $30 with shipping. It was surprisingly to find this exact color and size of plush monkey, the closest I could find to the ones in her self-portraits, so I ended up paying more than I had expected.
Blouse: had it for years, no idea from whence. Repaired fraying neckline, ruched sleeve hems, and popped embroidery details with yellow paint.
Belt: Body Central, about a year ago.
Skirt: probably from Burlington Coat Factory, years ago. Added bottom tier with fabric from stash.
Unibrow and mustache: Ben Nye Aquacolors pancake make-up applied with a fine-tipped brush.

Thank you so much to my husband for tolerating my insistent directions on lighting and framing, and taking about 80 shots in a rush before I ran off to dance the nights away.