Few appears to be like are as distinctive as Amy Winehouse’s was. The singer’s sweeping eyeliner, tottering heels and matted beehive are nonetheless immediately recognizable, 13 years after her loss of life.
Within the new biopic “Again to Black,” Marisa Abela performs the star from the start of her music profession till her closing days. She wears mini skirts with girlish ruffles and small kitten heels to start with, earlier than adopting her distinctive pinup aesthetic as she dives deeper into the music business and her self-destructive habits.
The movie takes its title from Winehouse’s second album, and “after we get to ‘Again to Black’ Amy, it’s extra horny,” the movie’s costume designer, PC Williams, mentioned. “There was a giant change in the way in which she introduced.”
To recreate this, the manufacturing staff studied many real-life photos of Winehouse. However there have been additionally some intentional modifications: They have been making “a bit of cinema versus making a documentary,” Williams mentioned. Here’s a nearer take a look at the method.
Towering Hair
Though Winehouse discovered inspiration in woman teams like The Ronettes, her signature coiffure was not a standard Sixties beehive. “It was a grungy variation — home made, edgy, a little bit of cool,” mentioned the movie’s hair and make-up designer, Peta Dunstall: It tended to be “a bit ratty alongside the underside.”
To recreate the look, she mixed halo extensions — which circled the again of Abela’s head, beneath her pure hair — with fringe items and “quick bits” that she caught into the actress’s already “wild” actual hair, Dunstall mentioned. “Mainly, no matter hair I may lay my fingers on went onto Marisa. I may by no means discover sufficient hair,” she added.
Although the staff matched most of the movie’s appears to be like to real-life footage of the singer, Dunstall mentioned that, at occasions, Winehouse’s hair was so huge it could have been distracting for the viewer. “I toned that down, in all probability by 10 %,” she mentioned.
Within the film, Winehouse’s dramatic winged eyeliner communicates her emotional state: “It relies upon how damaged she is: That’s when it begins to get messy,” Dunstall mentioned.
It was exhausting to inform which make-up merchandise Winehouse truly used, she mentioned, though “everybody on-line thinks it’s a Rimmel eyeliner,” referring to a well-liked British drugstore model. Rimmel eyeliner incorporates lots of staining, which is “nice for a lady going for an evening out,” Dunstall mentioned, however impractical on a movie set the place there can be a number of appears to be like in a single day. As a substitute, she used a gel eyeliner by MAC, which was simpler to take away.
Pores and skin and Tattoos
Dunstall mentioned she added texture to Abela’s pores and skin for scenes that came about “when issues weren’t so wholesome for Amy.” The staff used a particular results make-up product known as Bondo to assist Abela’s make-up sit much less easily for scenes set throughout the extra excessive durations of the character’s alcoholism and drug use. Dunstall defined that Abela additionally wore an answer on her lips in order that they appeared “dehydrated and a bit gritty — not so glamorous, principally,”
For Winehouse’s piercing, above the left aspect of her lip, Abela wore a ball bearing mounted with glue. “We simply hoped to God it didn’t fall off mid-scene,” Dunstall mentioned.
As a result of the manufacturing didn’t have design rights to Winehouse’s tattoos, the make-up artist Mark Coulier designed the subtly totally different ones worn by Abela within the movie.
Raiding Amy’s Wardrobe
In preparation for the movie, Mitch Winehouse, the singer’s father and the administrator of her property, agreed to let Williams go to his dwelling and look via what remained of Winehouse’s wardrobe. Dealing with the clothes “felt such as you have been holding onto slightly piece of historical past,” Williams mentioned.
With Mitch’s permission, she borrowed a number of objects to repeat their put on and tear — together with a pair of well-loved black skinny denims with corset detailing on the legs. However some items additionally match Abela, and Winehouse’s father agreed that she may put on them within the movie.
The pink ballet cardigan Abela wears for a scene wherein Amy and Blake break up in a pool corridor belonged to the singer, Williams mentioned. The staff additionally used Winehouse’s personal Star of David necklace, in addition to her pink satin varsity jacket, embroidered with the phrases “Amy Woo.”
Well-known Outfits
Williams wished to borrow the black ruffled Dolce & Gabbana mini costume Winehouse wore the night time she gained 5 Grammys in 2008. The Italian designers didn’t have the costume, which been displayed in a number of museum exhibitions, of their archive, however they provided to remake the costume for Abela. “It’s the one merchandise we’ve that could be a direct duplicate,” Williams mentioned.
Considered one of Williams’s favourite outfits to recreate was the Luella Bartley costume Winehouse wore throughout an notorious 2008 Glastonbury efficiency, wherein she appeared to drunkenly punch a fan. Product of royal blue silk and lined in plastic appliqué flowers, Williams mentioned the actual costume was extremely heavy. Their duplicate used lighter appliqués, customized made in Southeast Asia, in order that Abela may put on it for a complete day of capturing and “not go out from the burden of the garment,” Williams mentioned.
