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@import url(https://graphics8.nytimes.com/css/article/screen/print.css);
Hollywood Fashion Maven Mr. Blackwell Dies: Reports
Filed at 6:07 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mr. Blackwell, the fashion maven whose annual
"worst-dressed" list could be the bane of Hollywood celebrities, has died at age
86, according to media reports on Monday.
Richard Blackwell, born Richard Selzer, had been in failing health for some
time and in August was reported to be in a coma after a fall at his Los Angeles
home.
The Los Angeles Times quoted his publicist Harlan Boll as saying the former
actor and fashion designer died on Sunday afternoon in hospital of complications
from an intestinal infection.
Blackwell issued his "worst-dressed" list for 48 years and it became watched
around the world as much for his caustic quips about the stars' fashion as for
who made the list.
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."
In the No. 2 spot was British soul singer Amy
Winehouse and just behind was U.S. actress Mary-Kate Olsen who, he said,
"resembles a tattered toothpick trapped in a hurricane."
For 35 years, Blackwell had his own clothing line. He was also a costume
designer who worked with Hollywood stars such as Jayne
Mansfield and Jane
Russell.