There is no mistaking the look of the first model at Jean Paul Gaultier’s couture show, the beehive hair and thick eyeliner, black skirt and brassiere visible under a white top.
“Amy Winehouse was a true style icon,” Mr Gaultier told reporters backstage after a show conceived as a tribute to the soul singer, six months after her untimely death.
“What she stands for, above all, is uniqueness. Both in music and the way she dressed, she mixed a great many influences” to create her style, he said.
Playing on the late star’s style, rooted in the 1950s and 1960s, Mr Gaultier sent out corsets – a staple of his – as well as bustiers and layered brassieres, mixing bold colours with black.
The French designer took care to keep his tribute subtle – with nothing too literal – and Winehouse’s voice rang out only at the very end, blending with the sound of an a cappella band on stage.
Stars lined the front row, from the grande dames of French cinema Catherine Deneuve and Charlotte Rampling to the US rocker Beth Ditto, or R ’n’ B singer Shy’m.
Top models of the moment Karlie Kloss or Milagros Schmoll dazzled the room wrapped in hooded capes of billowing chiffon, or a suit matching asymmetric jacket and a man’s pinstriped pants – tailored to a woman’s curves.
Hand-crafted artistry was on ample display, like in the thousands of pieces of glitter embroidery on a violet-blue coat, worn over a pleated white skirt and plant-green top made entirely from sequins.
Purple pearl embroidery adorned a jacket, worn over an electric blue chiffon dress, while pointed-tipped bustiers were entirely embroidered with stones.
After the wedding dress – a corset-gown in powder pink – the models returned without their skirts, revealing the sophisticated lingerie underneath, with a black veil over the face like Spanish widows.
“It’s not a funeral,” smiled Mr Gaultier afterwards. “They are happy brides.”