Hollywood fashion critic in coma

The fashion critic whose annual 'Worst-Dressed' list can be the bane of Hollywood celebrities, is in a coma after falling at his home, his partner and manager have said.

Richard Blackwell, 85, has been at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles since Saturday.

Mr Blackwell has issued his "Worst-Dressed" list for 48 years, and it has become watched around the world as much for his quips about the stars' fashion as for who made the list.

Last year he named Spice Girl Victoria "Posh" Beckham the worst-dressed star and said: "In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty 'Posh' Beckham can really wreck-em."

In the No 2 spot was soul singer Amy Winehouse and just behind was diminutive actress Mary-Kate Olsen who, he said, "resembles a tattered toothpick trapped in a hurricane."

For 35 years, Mr Blackwell had his own clothing line. He also was a costume designer who worked with Hollywood stars such as Jayne Mansfield and Jane Russell.

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