Courtesy Chloe Sayer, Royal Ontario Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum’s ¡Viva México! Clothing & Culture tracks the evolution of Mexican fashion. In a country like Mexico, where the textile arts reach back over centuries, fashion reflects history.

After the Spanish Conquest of 1521, for example, European styles influenced the distinctive clothing of the Mayan, Aztec, and other great civilizations. Frida Kahlo, born just before the Mexican revolution, was often seen in traditional Tehuana dress, as depicted at right.

Contemporary Mexican textiles, meanwhile, owe their vitality to the fusion of traditions.

The exhibit, a collaboration with PANAMANIA presented by CIBC, the arts and cultural festival of Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Games, runs until May 2016.

For further information, please visit www.rom.on.ca/ en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibit ions/viva-mexico-clothing- and-culture.

—Brian Burchell