Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1076820
OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS. 18 W hen Reed Robertson (aka @mrreedallen) w r a p p e d u p h i s time as a women's f a s h i o n s p e c i a l i s t with Forty Five Ten late last year, a new project was on the horizon. Within seconds, it seemed, Robertson hatched a new business focusing on all things concerning one's wardrobe. Enter, Gumption: the culmination of Reed's REED WITH GUMPTION decade of experience in styling, retail, and fashion know-how. The service offers personal styling and shopping, wardrobe revamps, cleanups, and consultations — all conducted one-on-one with the wildly charismatic Robertson — as well as personalized concierge services for the stylish set. The website gumptionbymra. com will act as a catchall for Robertson's musings, from fashion advice for cost- conscious fashion followers to Q&As with E very now and then, s o m e t h i n g n e w opens that leaves you wondering how on earth it wasn't there before. Enter Verbena Parlor + Social House, Dallas' newest nail salon that offers nontoxic and fume- free manicures and pedicures in a setting that feels more cafe than clinic. An extensive menu of coffee, tea, wine, and beer adds to the appeal — after all, me time is all the better with a hot matcha latte or crisp glass of rosé. Verbena Parlor + Social House, 2626 Howell St., verbenaparlor.com. Lisa Collins Shaddock PARLOR TRICKS O ne of the most talked- about international exhibitions of 2018 — the V&A London's take on Mexican painter and feminist icon Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) — has been updated for a fresh presentation stateside. "Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving" opens this month at the Brooklyn Museum. Scholars Catherine Morris and Lisa Small curate a new American look at Kahlo, one spun around a trove of personal belongings never before exhibited in the U.S. Among the highlights: the painter's signature traditional Tehuana clothing from the state of Oaxaca, which is reflective of her mother's half-indigenous heritage; stunning Mesoamerican silver jewelry that accessorized those vibrant ensembles; hand- painted corsets and a prosthetic leg wearing a red boot (required after childhood polio and a serious bus accident at the age of 18 shattered Kahlo's spinal column); and even a stash of the artist's Revlon cosmetics. FRIDA CROSSES THE BORDER Alongside 100 intimate artifacts of constructed feminist identity are archival photos taken by her German father, Guillermo Kahlo, a noted Mexico City photographer, as well as portraits by Edward Weston, Lola and Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Gisèle Freund, and Nickolas Muray. The artist's possessions are spun around 10 pivotal canvases including Self-Portrait as a Tehuana from 1943, as well as drawings such as the one that gives the exhibition its name. "Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving," February 8 – May 12, at the Brooklyn Museum; brooklynmuseum. org. Catherine D. Anspon ladies and gents who inspire. Heads up: Actress and musician Mandy Moore (a longtime pal of Robertson's) is one of his first style files. gumptionbymra.com. Christina Geyer Verbena Parlor + Social House Reed Robertson Nickolas Muray's Frida in New York, 1946, at the Brooklyn Museum The artist's Revlon nail polishes Kahlo's cotton Mazatec huipil and skirt The artist's prosthetic leg with leather boot © NICKOLAS MURAY PHOTO ARCHIVES. PHOTO COURTESY BROOKLYN MUSEUM © DIEGO RIVERA AND FRIDA KAHLO ARCHIVES, BANCO DE MÉXICO. PHOTO JAVIER HINOJOSA, COURTESY OF V&A PUBLISHING.