Amy Winehouse’s Dad Not a Fan of Jean Paul Gaultier’s Haute Couture Homage

Edited by Lester Brathwaite on January 27 2012 at 7:47 AM

“We don’t support the Jean Paul Gaultier collection. It’s in bad taste. Mitch.” So tweeted Mitch Winehouse, father of late singer/noted rehab avoider Amy Winehouse. regarding Gaultier’s spring 2012 haute couture collection which featured models in giant beehives, dramatic cat eyes and with the occasional cigarette.

“The family was upset to see those pictures, they were a total shock,” Papa Winehouse elaborated. “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 [Brit talk] some of the more upsetting times in her life. That’s upsetting for her family.”

Gaultier, for his part, was trying to do right by the chanteuse: ”She was an icon of fashion and truly, the sense of how she mixed the clothes – it was great. It was very Eighties but we did it in a very modern way. It is very joyous.”

Personally, I thought it was a very fitting tribute and it’s not as if LPG had models stumbling out with a bottle of Jack Daniels in their hands. As I would’ve done because I’m a trash bag. Rather, it was a pretty tasteful homage — as tasteful as Jean Paul Gaultier can possibly get — that I was glad someone in fashion finally made.

Yet, I see Mitch’s point as a grieving father and perhaps a donation to Amy’s charity would have softened the blow. Speaking with the Sun, i.e. the trashiest tabloid on either side of the Atlantic, Mitch vented his righteous indignation, “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.” Just sayin’, wouldn’t hurt to open up those purse strings, Jean Paul.

What do you think? Was Gaultier’s show offensive? [Vogue UK]