A "cursed" minidress, green and black, with printed bamboo canes: Amy Winehouse wore it in her last concert in Belgrade in June 2011 and a month later she died of alcohol poisoning. That dress, part of the “Back in Black” singer's closets emptied by parents Mitch and Janis, changed hands for $ 243,200, twenty times the original estimate.
The charity auction at Julian's in Beverly Hills was held online with customers from all over the world: at the auction about 800 objects that belonged to her daughter, the most disparate testimonies of a tragic life, marked by the battles against drug addiction as well as by musical genius .
From bras to DVDs, from books to tricks, to stage notes: the sale brought in $ 4 million, double what was expected and the proceeds will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, created by parents to support vulnerable young adults in the fight against alcohol. and drugs.
The dress from the last concert was designed for the summer 2011 tour by her friend and designer Naomi Parry: a series of concerts canceled after the singer's erratic performance in the Serbian capital. 16 admirers competed for it last night, but the winner of the auction will have to wait until April to take it home: in a few days it will be exhibited in an exhibition at the Museum of Design in London.
"I feel immense sadness when I look at that dress," said Parry who had collaborated with Amy on ten other dresses to wear on the tour. something new to start over with ".
Many of the pieces at auction have multiplied the starting estimates: like the famous heart-shaped Moschino bag that Amy took with her to the Brit Awards in 2007 and which reached 204 thousand dollars, 13 times the initial valuation, while a gold dress by Dolce and Gabbana sold for $ 150,000, $ 20,000 more than Temperley London's black and beige jumpsuit worn at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert in Hyde Park.
Some moving post-mortem memorabilia: 19 thousand dollars were paid for the metal street sign with the words "Camden Square" on which grieving fans had written messages of homage to the singer in the days following the disappearance.
Amy was found dead at age 27 in her Camden apartment on July 23, 2011. It was immediately thought of a drug overdose, but an autopsy determined that the star had been the victim of accidental alcohol poisoning.
(Unioneonline / vl)