Painting my Clothes: The Kahlo Jumpsuit

As of late, I’ve come into a bit of an obsession with streetwear… one that my bank account has not thanked me for. I’m not sure if its the clothing pieces themselves that I’m addicted to, which range from chunky sneakers and oversized hoodies, to trousers and collared shirts, or the attitude that comes with them… Although it may seem odd, throwing your favourite fanny pack over a sweatshirt (so large it could be your grandpas) makes you feel like a million bucks, ready to take the world by storm! And although buying new streetwear pieces feels great (with a touch of buyers remorse for me at least), I still love incorporating vintage and thrifted items into my everyday wardrobe.

I’ve had this old jumpsuit sitting in my bottom drawer for ages, that I thrifted for around $10 from a local vintage store. It’s a dark navy colour and there are a few paint stains around the butt/leg area from the previous owner… Overall I’ve been a bit hesitant as to how to wear it; the look is almost too baggy/tattered to be called fashion. However, the other day I was scrolling around online at some painted denim jackets and realized that my jumpsuit was practically a blank canvas! I found this jacket inspired by Frida Kahlo that I loved in particular (selling for almost $300 CAD!), and I took that as my inspiration to transform the jumpsuit into wearable street art.

Frida Kahlo has always been an inspiration of mine in terms of not only her artwork, but her strength and expression which she was able to convey through her fashion and her attitude. I loved having the KAHLO written across the back (as in my inspiration jacket), and decided to add one of my favourite Frida Kahlo quotes along with it: “Lo que no me mata, me alimenta” (aka, “What doesn’t kill me, feeds me”). On the front, I painted three red eyes (drawing inspiration from her paintings Diego and I, as well as Self-Portrait as a Tehuana), with a word written below each. I chose the words “sangre”, “belleza” and “dolor” (aka, blood, beauty and pain), as I thought they represented many of the themes in both her artwork and life experiences as well. Finally on the collar (I LOVE collars by the way), I decided to paint on the dates she was born and passed away (1907-1954).

In terms of the actual painting process itself, I created a fabric paint by mixing a fabric medium (I ordered mine from Amazon, but you should be able to find one at Michaels or similar) with regular acrylic paints. I’m not sure if this step was completely necessary – as I have never known acrylics to come out of fabric – but I wanted to be 100% safe. I then made my own stencils from paper and then copied them onto the fabric for the font, and freehanded the eyes. I ended up doing at least 3 coats of the paint to make the colours really opaque.

Overall I am so pleased with how this outfit turned out! It took a long time to get all of the lettering just right, but I think it makes the entire look appear more professional and “legit,” if you will. Here’s a few more photos of the final result:

Let me know in the comments below if you have ever/would ever try painting on your clothes! I am definitely going to be spicing up a few more pieces in my wardrobe after this 🙂

alice, xoxo