Dermatomyositis is a rare autoimmune disease that significantly impairs quality of life. The diagnosis of this heterogeneous disease can be challenging. Skin and muscle are mostly affected but systemic manifestation is also possible. Newly detected myositis-specific autoantibodies show a correlation to clinical manifestations and disease course. This review focuses on skin manifestations of dermatomyositis and their association with myositis-specific autoantibodies. The knowledge of those is important for diagnosis, classification, prognosis and therapy of dermatomyositis.