LOS ANGELES - A decade after singling out the Spice Girls as fashion atrocities, Mr. Blackwell put just one of them -- Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham -- at the top of his 48th annual worst-dressed list.
The acid-tongued critic, who was designing dresses for the rich and famous when he started the list in 1960, skewered entertainment's biggest stars in the latest compilation of fashion follies, including Fergie, Kelly Clarkson, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson.
Insisting it is all in fun to encourage fashion consciousness, Blackwell heaped venom on Beckham, his No. 1 choice on the list released Tuesday.
"Forget the fashion spice, wearing a skirt would suffice! In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty posh can really wreck-em,'' he said in a statement.
An e-mail message to Beckham's publicist, Cheryl Maisel, was not immediately answered.
Blackwell listed the Spice Girls as No. 1 in his 1998 worst-dressed list, deriding the group as "the only spices on the planet that have no taste.''
The top 10 roll-call of fashion dishonours also included:
- No. 2. Amy Winehouse: "Exploding beehives above, tacky polka-dots below, she's part 50's carhop horror.''
- No. 3. Mary Kate Olsen: "She resembles a tattered toothpick-trapped in a hurricane.''
- No. 4. Fergie: "Yes, when it comes to couture chaos, guess it's all in a name!''
The rest of the top 10 list included Kelly Clarkson, Eva Green, Avril Lavigne, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Alison Arngrim.
Missing from the list was Britney Spears, who has made it many times before.
"I felt that it was inappropriate at this time to make comment, when her personal life is in such upheaval. I hope 2008 is a better year for her,'' Blackwell said.
Blackwell also released a Fabulous Fashion Independents list that included Reese Witherspoon, Jemima Khan, Beyonce, Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren, Nicole Kidman, Katie Holmes, Kate Middleton, Katherine Heigl and Cate Blanchett.
