Fashion Critic Mr. Blackwell Dies In Los Angeles

[darkamor]

Fashion critic Mr. Blackwell dies in Los Angeles





LOS ANGELES – Mr. Blackwell, the acerbic designer whose annual worst-dressed list skewered the fashion felonies of celebrities from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Britney Spears, has died at age 86 (he died Sunday October 19 of complications from an intestinal infection).

Mr. Blackwell (first name is Richard), was a little-known dress designer when he issued his first tongue-in-cheek criticism of Hollywood fashion disasters for 1960 .... then year after year, he would take Hollywood's reigning Stars and 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!" (I think this was during those 80's shoulder pad years - lol)

Mr. Blackwell @ his BEST:

Madonna: "The Bare-Bottomed Bore of Babylon." / "From Ghetto Glam to Rhinestone Cowgirl to Mrs. Guy Ritchie. Any way you label it, she's still just kitschy, kitschy, kitschy."

Barbra Streisand: "She looks like a masculine Bride of Frankenstein."

Christina Aguilera: "A dazzling singer who puts good taste through the wardrobe wringer." / "Is she a boring and body-baring bungle — or just auditioning for 'Sheena, Queen of the Jungle?'"

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

Sharon Stone: "An over-the-hill Cruella DeVille."

Lindsay Lohan: "From adorable to deplorable."

Patti Davis: "Packs all the glamour of an old, worn-out sneaker."

Ann Margret: "A Hells Angel escapee who invaded the Ziegfeld Follies on a rainy night." / "Marlon Brando in a g-string."

Camilla Parker-Bowles: "The Duchess of Dowdy." / "In feathered hats that were once the rage, she resembles a petrified parakeet from the Jurassic age."

Bjork: "She dances in the dark — and dresses there, too."

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

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."

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."

Martha Stewart: "She dresses like the centerfold for the Farmer's Almanac." (lol - that was my favorite)

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." (I actually admired some of the Bob Mackey designs Cher wore, although I will admit some looked like one disco ball too many of a pearl necklace - lol)

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?"

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."


Mr. Blackwell's worst-dressed list / year by year.

1960: Anna Magnani
1961: Debbie Reynolds
1962: Zsa Zsa Gabor
1963: Zsa Zsa Gabor
1964: Barbra Streisand
1965: Princess Margaret
1966: Mia Farrow
1967: Barbra Streisand
1968: Julie Andrews
1969: Queen Elizabeth
1970: Sophia Loren
1971: Ali MacGraw
1972: Raquel Welch
1973: Bette Midler
1974: Helen Reddy
1975: Caroline Kennedy
1976: Louise Lasser
1977: Farrah Fawcett
1978: Dolly Parton
1979: Bo Derek
1980: Brooke Shields
1981: Barbara Mandrell
1982: Diana Spencer (Princess Diana)
1983: Joan Collins
1984: Cher
1985: Princess Stephanie of Monaco
1986: Meryl Streep
1987: Lisa Bonet
1988: Sarah Ferguson
1989: LaToya Jackson
1990: Sinead O'Connor
1991: Julia Roberts
1992: Madonna
1993: Glenn Close
1994: Camilla Parker Bowles
1995: Howard Stern
1996: Dennis Rodman
1997: Spice Girls
1998: Linda Tripp (Clinton scandal figure)
1999: Cher
2000: Britney Spears
2001: Anne Robinson ("Weakest Link" host)
2002: Anna Nicole Smith
2003: Paris Hilton
2004: Nicollette Sheridan
2005: Britney Spears
2006: Paris Hilton, Britney Spears (tie)
2007: Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham
2008: ?

Unfortunately, poor health kept Mr. Blackwell from announcing the "worst dressed for 2008" (and this is where I ask the Forum members who would you like to see nominated?)

Richard Blackwell has acknowledged his mixed feelings about appearing so publicly mean; because most of the women he put through the wringer were also those he genuinely admired for their talent (if not their good fashion sense at times). "The list is and was a satirical look at the fashion flops of the year," he said in 1998. "I merely said out loud what others were whispering. ... It's not my intention to hurt the feelings of these people. It's to put down the clothing they're wearing."

He told the Los Angeles Times in 1968 that designers were forgetting that their job "is to dress and enhance women. ... Maybe I should have named the 10 worst designers instead of blaming the women who wear their clothes."

Surprisingly, the woman who topped his worst dressed list for 1982 (announced in early 1983) was the newly married Diana, Princess of Wales. He said she had gone from "a very young, independent, fresh look" to a "tacky, dowdy" style. She quickly regained her footing and wound up as a regular on Mr. Blackwell's favorites list, the "fabulous fashion independents."

It's amusing to note that Richard Blackwell started as an actor himself (spotted by a talent agent while still in his teens) and landed a job as an understudy in the Broadway production of Sidney Kingsley's drama "Dead End". While he only got to the play the role of the Dead End Kids' leader on stage once, he did make his way to Hollywood where he landed bit parts in such films as "Little Tough Guy" (uncredited) and "Juvenile Hall" (as Dick Selzer - now that sounds like a Male Porn Star name - lol).

By 1958, Richard Blackwell abandoned his acting career and switched to fashion design. He claimed to be the first to make designer jeans for women; quickly attracting Hollywood clients to his salon after his first list covering the fashion faux pas was published in 1960 (Italian star Anna Magnani and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor were among his early victims).

It quickly brought Mr.Blackwell the celebrity he had dreamed of (thanks to the television talk show circuit) along with the nickname "The worst bitch in the world" - but that didn't stop him from hosting his own show ("Mr. Blackwell Presents", 1968) and appearing as himself on "Matlock" and "Matt Houston".

It also brought out his protective nature, when in 1992 he sued Johnny Carson for claiming that he had added Mother Teresa to his list (Mr. Blackwell's claims stated that the comment exposed him to hatred and ridicule). NBC's response simply was that the "Tonight Show" host was obviously joking and you can judge for yourself :

"Did you see what he said about Mother Teresa? 'Miss Nerdy Nun is a fashion no-no' " - Johnny Carson

During his heyday, the issuing of Mr. Blackwell's annual list was an eagerly anticipated media event delivered on the second Tuesday in every January with a press conference at his Mansion (first there was the lavish breakfast, then the dramatic entrance for television cameras). By the turning of the millennium, his list was issued by e-mail. Born Richard Sylvan Selzer (actually Richard Sylvan sounds rather suave to me) in 1922, Mr. Blackwell recounted in his autobiography, "From Rags to Bitches", a troubled, poverty-ridden childhood in which he was variously a truant, thief and prostitute ...... adios amigo, we will never have another fun filled queen like you again to chuckle over poorly dressed celebs!



~(^)~

[Raza]

There's that LA thing again.

Anyway, while I tend to find people making their tastes out as objective truth somewhat obnoxious, declaring your prejudices with eloquence can compensate for a lot. Leastwise, I should certainly hope it can.

Going by his quotes I don't think I would have agreed with him a lot though, unless he deliberately went for irony. I could think of far less involving imagery than a worn out and discarded shoe, and anyone who comes out over-the-top in comparison with Cruella deVille has earned their second glance from me. I can't comment on the looks he was judging, but his mental imagery strikes me as tediously wholesome and conservative.

[Morning Glory]

I thought this dude died like two years ago. go figure.

[OliX]

You can see the future

[Ajax Knucklebones]

Hiro?

[Mr Karl]

never heard of him till today

[Morning Glory]

I'm channeling Mr. Blackwell, he says that the world doesn't need anymore nerdy Japanese guys.

fortunately they aren't born, they are only created. (the former would require sex with a woman, which will never happen.)

[darkamor]

It must be an "generation gap thing" ( I would compare Mr. Blackwell with The Amazing Criswell a.k.a. Charles Criswell King as both relied on publications within the media to sensationalize things from a celebrity environment) but I found his phrases amusing .....

I did not always agree with everything he had to say (a lot of times I admired those who challenged fashion - such as Bjork dressed as a Swan - but at the same time I there's always a Tera Reid with frankenboobs to remind you how not to attend any event) .....



~(^)~