If the braids didn’t give it away, the vibrant colours, jungle florals and vaguely Aztec-looking panels would have: Manning Cartell were inspired by Frida Kahlo.

Steering away from Kahlo’s identity as tortured surrealist, the trio instead focused on the painter’s identity as a creative genius and uncompromising feminist. Digital prints and a warm and dare I say, spicy*, colour palette were transformed into sheer organza jackets and bold, athletic bottoms. Tight pencil skirts and bold shoulder pads gave a hint of eighties’ power-dressing, making the collection a story of contrasts juxtaposed for a purer aesthetic.

Another lesson learned from Kahlo, perhaps? I spoke with Cheryl Manning to find out.

So obviously that was inspired by Frida Kahlo.
Did you like it?

I loved it. What did you love about Frida that made you want to take inspiration from her?
We loved her rawness. We loved her signature colour. We loved that she was so passionate about what she did, and that she sort of broke the rules and she didn’t follow other people; she had her own character.

And she was also a little bit of a style icon, in the fact that she mixed up prints a lot so that was quite fun. And also, she was a bit of a tomboy - we liked that part about her as well.

And I guess the textures, the colours and the shapes. What did you have in mind when you considered these things?
I felt with all of that, I just wanted to give it a really sculptural feel. And [Kahlo] put a ton of colour into her work and I felt like that related, and then also black and white with elements of colour in it, I thought we’d do some of that too.

And the prints, where did you… did you come up with those?
We did.

Digital?
All digital.

And where did you get them from?
They’re actually off an antique artwork, a floral, and then we put it on the fabrics we wanted to put them on, and the other ones we sort of manipulated so it was more monochromatic and then yeah. Actually a couple of them were antique prints. And we just recoloured them.

And I guess how do you feel about the collection?
I feel really good. I feel really good, actually. I feel it was really strong and all the elements that we put into it, like the jewellery, and the hair, it all came together at the end.

*Sorry. Couldn’t resist.