Amy Winehouse's dad explains anger over Jean Paul Gaultier's runway show
Amy Winehouse's father has explained his fury over Jean Paul Gaultier's decision to take the star's iconic image as inspiration for his latest catwalk show, accusing the couturier of using the tragic singer to boost his profits.
The flamboyant French designer paid tribute to the late Back to Black hitmaker during his show at Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday (25Jan12) by sending his models down the runway sporting Amy Winehouse's iconic beehive hairstyle and heavy eyeliner. Several girls were also smoking cigarettes as they strutted down the catwalk.
Mitch Winehouse took to Twitter on Thursday (26Jan12) to dismiss
the stunt as "bad taste", and insisted that he did not support Jean
Paul Gaultier's show.
He has taken aim at the designer again, describing how his mourning
family was left in "shock" after seeing the late singer's image
used "wholesale" for profit so close to the six-month anniversary
of her death.
He tells Britain's The Sun, "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.
"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."
Amy Winehouse died last July (11) at the age of 27 after drinking
too much alcohol.