Homage? Or Blatant Rip Off? I'm leaning towards the latter...

The fashion world’s in a tizzy (sorry, I love the word and I have to find a way to get it in whenever I can) over Jean Paul Gaultier’s decision to feature Amy Winehouse lookalike’s during his fashion show in Paris (right around the 6 month anniversary of her death, no less). The designer defended his newest looks as a “tribute” to an “icon of fashion” but Amy’s father, Mitch, and the rest of the Winehouse family are fuming mad about the entire thing. In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Mitch voiced his concern over the show, which not only featured Amy-esque models in beehives and black veils, but also a barbershop quartet singing Winehouse covers.

“To see her image lifted wholesale to sell clothes was a wrench we were not expecting or consulted on… 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.”

In addition to finding the whole thing in poor taste, Mitch also voiced a concern that many critics have as well – the suspicion that Gaultier is acting purely out of greed and has no interest in really paying any sort of tribute to the deceased musician. That accusation gets a little more clout with me after Mitch revealed the family was never consulted, nor were any offers made to donate funds to The Amy Winehouse Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping troubled kids that Mitch started after his daughter’s death.

“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.”

That sense of “something’s not right” when it comes to Gaultier’s intentions is a sentiment shared by Winehouse friend Kelly Osbourne: “Although @JPGaultier was paying homage to my friend & icon to the world, I found it to be lucratively selfish and distasteful,” She then added “Exploitation=evil.”

What I loved about Amy’s fashion (dirty ballerina slippers aside) was her effortless ability to be fun and vintage. A dirty girl’s Dita Von Teese, if you will – she had a style about her that anyone could duplicate under any budget – and these shots just look like rich bitches playing pretend. I’ll pass. But is it in bad taste? Perhaps. Check out the photos and judge for yourself.