With her swoop of jet-black beehive hair, sharp-as-a-knife cat-eye eyeliner, and skinny jeans, Amy Winehouse defied the neat, overly curated pop star style of the early aughts. Rather than looking like everyone else, she was a purely individualistic amalgamation of vintage and her own curated, undone personal style pulled from the aesthetic of her local Camden in London as well as her favorite style stars like her grandmother and Brigitte Bardot.
Twenty years after the release of her second and final album, Back to Black, it’s impossible to ignore the late singer’s influence on music and fashion. With a new exhibition in London showcasing her iconic looks, a massive tribute concert, Back to Black’s special 20th anniversary re-release, and 2008 fashion on the rise, Winehouse’s style is as important as ever.
She wore white tank tops, little denim shorts with black leather studded belts and tiny gingham dresses. Winehouse’s tattoos, visible black and red bra straps, and thick gold chains were as key to her look as her hair and makeup (the cat-eye eyeliner, which she proudly did herself). Beyond winning five Grammy Awards in one night, she defined a short but impactful era. “I don’t want to be the prettiest or the sexiest or whatever. I just want to look different and to look like me,” she told The Guardian in 2004. Early on, Amy Winehouse worked with the stylist Lou Wood for photo shoots. “One day she turned up in a massive pair of high heels and hot pants, carrying a guitar,” she recently told The Independent. “We were walking for five hours,” she says, laughing. “She wasn’t a manufactured artist. She had her own mind definitely, and her own style.” Winehouse also collaborated with her longtime friend Naomi Parry as a stylist.
