Mitch Winehouse Is Furious Over Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Show Tribute To Amy Winehouse
Yesterday we saw video from the Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2012 fashion show at Paris Fashion Week that showcased Gaultier‘s Amy Winehouse-inspired fashion collection. Today we are hearing from Amy‘s father Mitch Winehouse who is upset by the tribute, calling Gauliter‘s decision to craft a fashion collection inspired by the late singer as in “bad [...]
Yesterday we saw video from the Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2012 fashion show at Paris Fashion Week that showcased Gaultier‘s Amy Winehouse-inspired fashion collection. Today we are hearing from Amy‘s father Mitch Winehouse who is upset by the tribute, calling Gauliter‘s decision to craft a fashion collection inspired by the late singer as in “bad taste”. Read on to find out just how angry and “shocked” Mitch Winehouse is over the tribute.
AMY Winehouse’s grieving dad Mitch hit out last night after designer Jean Paul Gaultier used her image as a gimmick. Mitch, 60, said the catwalk “tribute” at Paris Fashion Week came as a “total shock”. The ex-cabbie accused Gaultier of cashing in on Amy’s death with a “bad taste” fashion show. Mitch said the singer’s family was devastated by pictures of catwalk models smoking and wearing the singer’s trademark beehive hairdos and heavy eyeliner. Wednesday’s show at Paris Fashion Week came just two days after the half-year anniversary of the Back To Black star’s death — and Mitch said it portrayed Amy at her worst. He said: “The family was upset to see those pictures, they were a total shock. “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.” Mitch has set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation helping vulnerable youngsters in his daughter’s memory. But he added: “No one asked us for permission or offered to make a donation to the foundation. This is purely about Gaultier making money, and that’s wrong.” Gaultier, 59 — former co-presenter of Channel 4 show Eurotrash — claimed the catwalk show was a “tribute” to the singer. He said afterwards: “She was an icon of fashion and truly, the sense of how she mixed the clothes — it was great. “It was very Eighties but did it in a very modern way. It is very joyous.”
First off, I’d have to day … Mitch Winehouse, as a grieving father, has every right to be upset by images that remind him of his late daughter. Far be it for me or anyone else to downplay his pain. BUT … Gaultier‘s fashion tribute to Amy isn’t the first time her look was been used in a clothing line. Amy teamed up with Fred Perry to creat the Amy Winehouse for Fred Perry collection back in 2010. The line was given the OK to be made available for sale after her death last year. The difference here is that the money made by Gaultier on the sale of these clothes will go in his pocket rather than in the Winehouse family coffers. This is a tricky. Is it OK for a designer (or anyone else) to pay tribute to a deceased person for financial gain? I’m not sure. My guess is that if this story gets big enough, Jean Paul Gaultier will announce a plan to donate a portion of the proceeds made from sales of this collection to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Then again, maybe not. I guess the question becomes … should Gaultier hand over profits made from this collection? Or at the very least, should he make a donation?
[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]
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