When Frida Kahlo chose to wear floor-length skirts and a fringed rebozo for her 1929 wedding to Diego Rivera, it was more than just a fashion statement. It was a declaration of identity, a conscious embrace of Mexican heritage. Her wardrobe would soon expand to include a vibrant array of indigenous clothing from various regions of Mexico and Guatemala, reflecting a deep admiration for artisanal traditions and a profound commitment to her native Mexico, where clothing styles are powerfully intertwined with cultural identity, especially in places like Oaxaca.
Across the diverse indigenous communities of Mexico, the art of textile creation is primarily focused on clothing. Highly skilled artisans, predominantly women, weave cloth of remarkable beauty and complexity using the ancient backstrap loom. This simple yet incredibly versatile apparatus allows for intricate designs and textures. Traditional Mexican garments differ significantly from European tailored clothing. Instead of being cut and shaped, they are constructed from squares and rectangles of woven fabric, emphasizing the texture and patterning of the material itself. Techniques like brocading, often mistaken for embroidery, involve adding supplementary weft threads to create raised designs of flowers, birds, animals, and geometric motifs. Another ancient skill is gauze-weaving, where threads are meticulously crossed by hand to produce open-meshed cloth with a delicate, lace-like appearance.
The Allure of the Tehuana Dress
In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, as the nation sought to forge a unified identity, the Tehuana woman emerged as a potent cultural symbol. Tehuanas, the Zapotec women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, captivated the public imagination with their bold and flamboyant style of dress, becoming widely celebrated in popular media. Even today, Tehuanas proudly uphold their distinct cultural identity, with their clothing playing a central role in this expression.
Zapotec women adorned in Tehuana clothing for a festival
Historical records, both visual and written, trace the evolution of Tehuana clothing over time. In 1828, Italian artist Claudio Linati’s lithograph, “Young Woman of Tehuantepec,” depicted a woman in a simple wrap-around cotton skirt, woven on the backstrap loom, and a white, gauze-like garment covering her head and torso, known as a ‘huipil grande’. By 1859, when French explorer Desiré Charnay visited the Isthmus, the huipil had transformed into a shorter style. A print based on Charnay’s photograph highlighted the distinctive frill of the huipil grande framing the wearer’s face. Tehuana clothing has continued its evolution, adapting to the changing tastes and preferences of the women who wear it, showcasing a dynamic and living tradition.
Frida Kahlo was particularly enamored with the Tehuana style and frequently incorporated these garments into her personal aesthetic, often mixing them with indigenous pieces from other regions, and sometimes even European or Asian clothing. However, it was the Tehuana’s flamboyant attire that held a special place in her heart. A renowned photograph by Nickolas Muray, taken in New York, immortalizes Kahlo in a striking Tehuana ensemble. Her voluminous skirt, trimmed with delicate handmade lace, and her huipil, crafted from commercially produced cloth and adorned with geometric designs in machine-made chain-stitch, exemplify her unique and culturally resonant style.
Frida Kahlo wearing Tehuana clothing in a New York rooftop photo
Kahlo’s distinctive way of dressing continues to inspire fashion designers globally. More importantly, her embrace of Traditional Mexican Clothing draws attention to the remarkable skill and enduring cultural legacy of weavers and embroiderers throughout Mexico and Guatemala, highlighting the artistry embedded in these garments.
Exploring Key Pieces of Traditional Mexican Attire
The Huipil: A Timeless Tunic
The huipil, best described as a sleeveless tunic, is a fundamental garment for women in many regions of Mexico and Guatemala, with a history stretching back over two thousand years. Huipiles crafted on the backstrap loom showcase a diverse range of textures and designs woven directly into the fabric. Huipiles made from commercially bought cloth are often embellished with embroidery, lace, braid, and ribbons. While some huipil styles are constructed from two or three panels of fabric, others are made from a single width. Lengths vary considerably, from long garments reaching the ankles to shorter versions ending at the waist or tucked into the skirt. The huipil’s geometric construction was particularly flattering for Frida Kahlo, giving her a taller appearance and preventing fabric from bunching when she was seated, especially during her later years when she used a wheelchair.
Oaxaca, a state with a significant indigenous population, boasts a rich variety of huipil styles. Museum collections feature exquisite examples, such as an ankle-length huipil dating back over a century, likely from the Mixteca Alta region. In this area, Mixtec and Triqui weavers continue the tradition of creating huipiles on the backstrap loom. These huipiles are often woven from three widths of white cotton thread, featuring alternating bands of plain and gauze weaving. Brocaded bands, using red and blue cotton, showcase intricate geometric patterns like zigzags, chevrons, and lozenges. A round neck opening, hemmed in red, is cut into the central panel, and the sides are seamed, leaving ample openings for the arms. Huipiles of this type are typically worn over a wrap-around skirt, secured with a woven waist sash.
An antique huipil from Oaxaca, showcasing traditional weaving
The Blouse: Colonial Influences and Indigenous Artistry
The colonial-style blouse, known as blusa or camisa in Spanish, has become widely adopted in indigenous areas of Mexico. Inspired by the European chemise, it has replaced the huipil in some communities. Historically, blouses were made from handwoven cloth, but contemporary blouses often utilize commercial materials like manta (calico), organdy, popelina, or brightly colored satin-like fabrics. While some blouses are tailored with frills and tucks, others maintain a simpler, unfitted, and angular construction. Blouses from the Valley of Mexico and Puebla state are characterized by their boxy shape, featuring square underarm panels and necklines, and are frequently adorned with richly embroidered yokes and sleeves.
An embroidered blouse from Puebla, displaying floral designs
Frida Kahlo owned an exquisite blouse from the Nahua region of Puebla state, embroidered with large floral designs in red satin-stitch. Smaller motifs, including birds and animals, are created using pepenado fruncido, an intricate embroidery technique where running stitches pattern minutely pleated cloth to form the background, leaving white areas to define the designs. Another blouse from Kahlo’s collection, a beaded ceremonial piece from San Gabriel Chilac, Puebla state, showcases elaborate designs of flowers, birds, and ‘Aztec’ dancers, embroidered with imported glass beads on cotton cloth.
A beaded blouse from Puebla, featuring glass bead embroidery
The Sarape: A Masculine Overgarment
The sarape, a distinctive overgarment primarily worn by men in rural Mexico, reached its peak popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The introduction of sheep, particularly Merinos, after the Spanish Conquest, along with Spanish textile technology like the treadle loom, spurred the growth of numerous weaving centers. The most highly prized sarapes were said to originate from Saltillo, Coahuila, though workshops also flourished in Zacatecas and Querétaro.
A red sarape from Mexico, showcasing tapestry weaving
Museum collections include sarapes dating back to the 1880s, showcasing the dazzling artistry of tapestry weaving. These sarapes were often woven in two panels on a treadle loom using a cotton warp and wool weft, then seamed together with a central opening for the head, resembling a South American poncho or draped over the shoulders like a cloak. Tapestry weaving involves discontinuous weft threads of different colors, creating designs as they move across specific areas of the fabric. Common motifs include concentric diamonds and interlocking geometric patterns forming vertical stripes. Natural dyes like indigo and cochineal were used before synthetic dyes became prevalent. A silken fringe was often added for a refined finish. While commercially produced coats and jackets have largely replaced the sarape in modern times, it remains an iconic piece of traditional Mexican clothing.
The Rebozo: A Symbol of Womanhood and Nationhood
The rebozo, a long, rectangular shawl, evolved during the colonial period and became a powerful symbol of womanhood and, after Mexican Independence, of nationhood itself. 19th-century paintings and lithographs depict Mexican women of all social classes wearing rebozos. Many rebozos feature ikat patterns, known in Mexico as reservado or jaspe. This technique involves tie-dyeing selected warp threads before weaving. Sets of threads are tightly bound and dyed, with the covered portions remaining ‘reserved’. For multiple colors, the process is repeated. Weavers carefully align the designs when setting up the warp on the loom. The warp threads are knotted at both ends to create a fringe. The rebozo is incredibly versatile, offering protection from sun and cold, and serving as a practical carrier for goods and infants. Frida Kahlo was frequently photographed wearing a rebozo, making it an integral part of her signature style.
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Museum collections include late 19th-century cotton rebozos dyed with indigo. These examples often feature alternating stripes of plain white, plain blue, and blue-and-white ikat. Tenancingo de Degollado, in the State of Mexico, is renowned for its cotton rebozos of this type, where dyeing and weaving skills are passed down through generations in small treadle-loom workshops. Santa María del Río, San Luis Potosí, is another significant center for ikat rebozos, woven with silk or artificial silk on the backstrap loom. Like the sarape, the rebozo has faced competition from mass-produced and more contemporary clothing styles, yet it retains its cultural significance.
An ikat rebozo from Mexico, showcasing tie-dye techniques
The Skirt: From Wrap-Around to Modern Styles
Before the Spanish Conquest, women in Mexico wore wrap-around skirts secured with a waist sash. In many indigenous communities, finely crafted wrap-around skirts, assembled from handwoven panels, are still worn today. These skirts can be rectangular or tube-shaped, and each morning, the wearer arranges the fabric into folds or pleats. In recent decades, skirts with waistbands have become more common in many regions, replacing the traditional wrap-around style.
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One of Frida Kahlo’s skirts, known as an enagua, fastens at the side with fabric ties and features a detachable cotton lace flounce or holán for easy washing and starching. Patterned cotton cloth, often imported from Manchester, England, was frequently used. The introduction of the Singer sewing machine in the early 20th century spurred a trend in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec for geometric chain-stitch designs. The enagua remains a formal garment on the Isthmus. The rabona, a lighter style with a pleated flounce of the same material, was also favored by Kahlo and is still a popular everyday item in the region.
Detail of a satin skirt with chain stitch and floral embroidery
The Resplandor: The Tehuana Headdress
Kahlo’s Self-portrait as a Tehuana, painted in 1943, features her wearing the Tehuana’s distinctive ceremonial lace headdress. The origins of the huipil grande, now also called a resplandor, remain uncertain. This headdress, worn in two distinct ways, resembles a short huipil with a ruffled collar and a wide bottom frill. Vestigial ‘sleeves’, stiffened with starch, are purely decorative. For formal occasions, the wide frill encircles the face like radiant white light, while the collar and sleeves hang down the back. In church, the ruffled collar frames the face, and the garment drapes over the shoulders like a cape, with one sleeve in front and the other behind. In her self-portrait, Kahlo depicts herself wearing the headdress in the latter style.
Frida Kahlo's self-portrait as a Tehuana, featuring the resplandor headdress
Traditional Mexican clothing is more than just attire; it is a vibrant expression of cultural identity, artistic skill, and historical continuity. From the intricate weaving techniques to the symbolic garments, these traditions continue to inspire and resonate, both within Mexico and around the world, thanks in part to figures like Frida Kahlo who championed and celebrated this rich sartorial heritage.
