The creator of the original, and best-known annual “Worst Dressed” list, passed away yesterday at age 86. For 48 years, Richard Blackwell zapped the styles of the famous, and many of pop culture’s biggest weren’t immune from his sting. Blackwell had his own fashion line for 35 years, and worked with Hollywood legends that included Jane Russell and Jayne Mansfield. Last year he put British “Spice Girls” singer Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham at the top of his list, saying: “…in one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty ‘Posh’ Beckham can really wreck-em.” Thanks to the AP for the following collection of some of Blackwell’s zingers!
* Cameron Diaz: “Looks like she was dressed by a colorblind circus clown, and when it comes to fashion, it’s chaos when Cameron’s back in town.”
* Madonna: “From Ghetto Glam to Rhinestone Cowgirl to Mrs. Guy Ritchie. Any way you label it, she’s still just kitschy, kitschy, kitschy.”
* Christina Aguilera: “Is she a boring and body-baring bungle — or just auditioning for ‘Sheena, Queen of the Jungle?'”
*Courtney Love: “When push comes to shove, no one’s fashion is tackier and wackier than funky, punky Love!”
* Mary Kate Olsen: “She resembles a tattered toothpick trapped in a hurricane.”
* The Dixie Chicks: “They look like a trio of truck-stop fashion tragedies trapped in a typhoon.”
* Rene Zellweger: “A painted pumpkin on a pogo stick.”
* Ann-Margret: “Marlon Brando in a g-string.”
* Bjork: “She dances in the dark — and dresses there, too.”
* Martha Stewart: “She dresses like the centerfold for the Farmer’s Almanac.”
* Sharon Stone: “She looks like an over-the-hill Cruella de Ville.”
* Elizabeth Taylor: “Looks like two small boys fighting under a mink blanket.”
* Amy Winehouse: “Exploding beehives above, tacky polka-dots below, she’s part 50’s carhop horror.”
* Cher: “A million beads and one overexposed derriere.”
* Sarah Jessica Parker: “From ‘Sex and the City’ Sarah’s fashions are a mix-and-match pity.”
* Mariah Carey: “Shrink-wrapped cheesecake.”
* Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham: “Forget the fashion spice — wearing a skirt would suffice! In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty Posh can really wreck-em.”
*Queen Elizabeth II: “Was she the palace Christmas tree or just a royal clown?
* Camilla Parker-Bowles: “In feathered hats that were once the rage, she resembles a petrified parakeet from the Jurassic age.”
* Dennis Rodman (for his drag outfits): “The Fashion Menace may be the Bad Boy of basketball — but in fishnet and feathers he’s a unisex wreck.”