Mr. Blackwell, fashion's First Critic, was about more than just zingers

Friends (and foes) will remember impish fashion critic Mr. Blackwell for his poetic evisceration of Hollywood's worst-dressed stars. But the creator of the annual "10 Worst-Dressed Women" list, who died Sunday in Los Angeles at age 86, had a talent beyond devilish rhyming - he also had impeccable timing.
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Blackwell stepped into the spotlight in 1960, at a moment when discussion of the clothes worn by celebrities was generally limited to praise. Joan Rivers had not yet set foot on the red carpet. There was no E! television. There was no Internet for the Fug Girls to explore.
So when Blackwell suggested that certain members of the elite didn't look so great, he set off waves of scorn and delight, laying the foundation for the fashion police of the future.
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"How sad that he died," Rivers said Monday, "because Bjork and Jennifer Lopez will no longer know which of their gowns they should donate to Goodwill.
"It also goes without saying," she adds, "that he will be the best-dressed body of the season."
Born Richard Sylvan Selzer in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Blackwell hoped showbiz would whisk him away from his hardscrabble roots. His efforts as an actor took him to Broadway and to Los Angeles, where he swapped his name for his more famous moniker - on a recommendation from producer Howard Hughes - and soon ditched acting to become a talent agent. After designing outfits for one of his clients, he closed his agency and founded a fashion company with business and life partner Robert Spencer.
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While his clothing line never achieved mass popularity, it provided a platform from which he could deliver his first fashion critiques. In 1960, he put together his first list, for the Sunday magazine American Weekly, naming his picks for the nine worst-dressed celebrities.
"I merely said out loud what others were whispering," he said of his list, which grew to include 10 celebs a year. "It's not my intention to hurt the feelings of these people. It's to put down the clothing they're wearing."
The list became an annual tradition, and, in its heyday, Blackwell would announce his picks to journalists over a lavish breakfast at his home. In the following decades, he frequently skewered Madonna, Britney Spears and Cher - who took offense to his criticism and shot back: "What has Mr. Blackwell ever designed? I think he did one dress, and it was horrible."
Even as the fashion and entertainment worlds eventually stopped awaiting the list with the same excitement, the number of style pundits multiplied, finding homes on TV, in print and on the Internet.