"Bad Taste"
AMY WINEHOUSE's father, Mitch, has spoken out against the Jean Paul Gaultier show which
paid tribute to his daughter's iconic style; calling it "an insult"
to the singer.
"The family was upset to see those pictures, they were a total
shock," he said. "We're still grieving for her loss, and we've had a
difficult week with the six-month anniversary of Amy's death. To see her image
lifted wholesale to sell clothes was a wrench we were not expecting or
consulted on. We're proud of her influence on fashion but find black veils on
models, smoking cigarettes with a barbershop quartet singing her music in bad
taste. It portrays a view of Amy when she was not at her best, and glamorises
some of the more upsetting times in her life. That's upsetting for her
family."
Although the couture clothes seen on the catwalk will not be retailed,
rather created bespoke for just a handful of clients, Mitch maintained a
donation should have been made in the late singer's name.
"No one asked us for permission or offered to make a donation to
the foundation," he told the Sun. "This
is purely about Gaultier making money, and that's wrong."
He later Tweeted from his personal account, @mitchwinehouse: "We don't support
the Jean Paul Gaultier collection. It's in bad taste. Mitch."
Gaultier's tribute to the singer - which included models dressed
glamorously in beehives and eyeliner - was a celebration of her impact on
fashion, the designer said.
"She was an icon of fashion and truly, the sense of how she mixed
the clothes - it was great," Gaultier said. "It was very Eighties but
we did it in a very modern way. It is very joyous."
