Posh named worst-dressed celeb

Victoria Beckham's plan to wow America's fashion elite went awry yesterday when she was named 2007's Worst Dressed Celebrity by the acid-tongued barometer of Hollywood style, Mr Blackwell. Since moving to Los Angeles last year, when husband David Beckham signed up with LA Galaxy, Posh has helped style new pals Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and launched her own denim and accessories collections. She has appeared on satirical fashion sitcom Ugly Betty and written her own style guide, That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, Heels And Everything In Between.

Blackwell, who has been compiling his list since 1960 after designing dresses for Hollywood sirens like Jayne Mansfield, Peggy Lee and Jane Russell, put Posh at the top of the charts for his 48th annual worst-dressed list. "Forget the fashion spice, wearing a skirt would suffice! In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty Posh can really wreck-em," he said in a statement. The attack on Posh comes a decade after Blackwell placed the Spice Girls at the top of his 1998 worst-dressed list, deriding the group as "the only spices on the planet that have no taste".

Another Brit, troubled and tattoed singer, Amy Winehouse, came second. “Exploding beehives above, tacky polka-dots below,” said Blackwell. At number three was actress Mary-Kate Olsen, "a tattered toothpick — trapped in a hurricane." His top 10 also includes singers Kelly Clarkson, Fergie and Avril Lavigne and actress Lindsay Lohan. This past year stands out as one of the “most disastrous fashion years in recent memory,” Blackwell added.

Notably absent from the list, however, is Britney Spears, who has made it many times before. "I felt that it was inappropriate at this time to make comment, when her personal life is in such upheaval,” Blackwell said.