Britney Spears tops Blackwell's worst-dressed list

Mr Blackwell criticised "Desperate Housewives" television star Eva Longoria for "garish taste." Picture / Reuters

LOS ANGELES - Singer Britney Spears has topped an annual Hollywood worst-dressed list compiled by a fashion designer who called her an "over-the-hill Lolita."

Mr Blackwell's list, which also slammed starlets Mary-Kate Olsen, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, summed up 2005 as a particularly bad year for "couture chaos, wardrobe wrecks and stylistic sleaze."

Spears, who gave birth to her first child last year, has been a favourite on Blackwell's list for the past five years. He described her on Tuesday as going from "princess of pop to the ultimate fashion flop."

The self-appointed fashion guru's lists are a Hollywood tradition. Over the years they have poked fun at everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Elizabeth Taylor.

In his 46th report, Blackwell said that Olsen, 19, who with her twin, Ashley Olsen, heads a multimillion-dollar entertainment empire appealing to young girls, looked "depressingly decayed" in her "bag lady rags." He called Simpson, 25, a "cut-rate Rapunzel slingin' hash in a Vegas diner" and said Lohan, 19, was "drowning in grown-up groaners" that added 30 years to her looks.

Blackwell said hotel heiress Hilton looks "like yesterday's cheesecake," criticised "Desperate Housewives" television star Eva Longoria for "garish taste" and described Oscar winner Renee Zellweger as looking like a "painted pumpkin on a pogo stick."

Blackwell urged the women on his list to emulate the "effortless beauty and memorable style" of Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Kate Moss, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Dionne Warwick.

Blackwell's worst-dressed women of 2005 are:

1) Britney Spears
2) Mary-Kate Olsen
3) Jessica Simpson
4) Eva Longoria
5) Mariah Carey
6) Paris Hilton
7) Anna Nicole Smith
8) Shakira
9) Lindsay Lohan
10) Renee Zellweger

- REUTERS