Dresses that hid Frida Kahlo's pain come to light decades on

The colorful dresses of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo goes on display for the first time in November after being kept hidden from public view for Half a century at the request of her husband, acclaimed muralist Diego Rivera.

Curators from the Kahlo's "Blue House" in Mexico City discovered a trove of 300 dresses, swimsuits, accessories and photographs in 2004 and therefore are now ready to show the general public 22 items in the unique wardrobe that turned her right into a fashion muse.

The exhibit explores Kahlo's passion for Mexico's indigenous women and her penchant for richly embroidered ethnic frocks, flowery headpieces and ornate silver jewelry that earned her a photograph shoot with Vogue magazine in 1937.

Additionally, it reveals how she chose clothes to cover her disfigurement following a bout of childhood polio that left one leg thinner compared to other and a devastating bus accident that broke her spine in three places and left her in constant pain and scarred from subsequent surgeries.

"We must keep in mind that Frida - like Diego - wanted the colours, the dress, the culture of Mexican women to become public and known," said Carlos Phillips, head from the museums that exhibit Kahlo and Rivera's work.

"They were trying to rescue a people this was abandoned. Mexican society dressed like Europeans. The type of clothes weren't appreciated just as much anymore," he explained.

Kahlo and Rivera are two of Mexico's most celebrated figures, as well as their on-off stormy marriage was one of the most prominent of the Twentieth century art world.

Kahlo, who died from pneumonia in 1954 at 47, led a troubled life fraught with illness and tumultuous love affairs. Part of the Mexican Communist Party, she would be a fierce supporter from the country's traditional culture.