Paris capital of fashion disaster

SHE may be heir to a billion dollar fortune, but Paris Hilton is small change in the world of fashion.

The scantily dressed socialite-reality TV star has topped this year's Top Ten Titans of Fashion Terror list, an accolade for committing some of the worst fashion follies of the past year. The fashion offenders list is produced by the acid-tongued critic and former fashion designer, Mr Blackwell.

He said of this year's winner (loser?): "Paris came up shining with a big spotlight saying, 'Pick me!' She was just the most natural contender to make No 1 this year."

Hilton, star of TV's The Simple Life, became an inadvertent internet icon when a homemade sex video she shot with her then-boyfriend made the rounds online.

"She does everything she can to be outrageous, everything she can to be over the top, everything she can to be too much and she succeeded and what she got from it was a great TV show," said Blackwell.

He said those who made the list for 2003 "ran the gamut of style-free excess from trashy to flashy, frumpy to dumpy and every egregious variation in between."

Madonna and Britney Spears "kissin' cousins of couture crime" were tied for second place, followed by Shania Twain ("country-fried kitsch"), Diane Keaton, Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion ("half-sequinned scarecrow, half-gaudy acrobat"), Missy Elliott, Melanie Griffith, Courtney Love ("torrid temptress of fashion") and Lara Flynn Boyle.

"I'm not telling them how to dress," he said at his home in Hancock Park, California. "I'm just telling them what I think of it. A lot of the stars are looking better than ever and it was very tough to find 10 bad ones."

On the positive side, Blackwell praised Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Garner, Diane Lane, Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Katie Holmes, Tippi Hedren, Beyonce, Faith Hill, Sarah Jessica Parker and the Countess of Wessex as "Fabulous Fashion Independents for 2003".