FASHION designer Mr Blackwell, whose annual worst-dressed list ripped into celebrities from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Britney Spears, has died aged 86.

Richard Blackwell was a little-known dress designer when he issued his first tongue-in-cheek criticism of Hollywood fashion disasters for 1960.

Year after year he took Hollywood's reigning stars and other celebrities to task for failing to dress in what he thought was the way they should.

Being dowdy was bad enough, but the more outrageous clothing a woman wore, the more biting his criticism. He once said a reigning Miss America looked "like an armadillo with cornpads".

Barbra Streisand, Sharon Stone, Madonna and Lindsay Lohan were just a few of the stars to receive stinging criticism.

Other examples include: Christina Aguilera - "A dazzling singer who puts good taste through the wardrobe wringer."

Meryl Streep - "She looks like a gypsy abandoned by a caravan."

Camilla Parker-Bowles - "The Duchess of Dowdy."

Spears - "Her bra-topped collection of Madonna rejects are pure fashion overkill."

He also famously said in 1983 that Princess Diana had gone from "a young, independent, fresh look" to a "tacky, dowdy" style.