Top of fashion flops.

Mr Blackwell, America's chronicler of clothing catastrophes, poked fun at socialite-reality TV star Paris Hilton yesterday for committing the worst fashion follies of the past year.

The acid-tongued critic and former fashion designer has been producing his worst dressed list for 44 years.

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 the television reality show The Simple Life, became an inadvertent internet icon when a home-made 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," Blackwell said.

He described those on the list as "Ten Titans of Fashion Terror that, in 2003, ran the gamut of style-free excess from trashy to flashy, frumpy to dumpy and every egregious variation in between." Others on Blackwell's list included Madonna, and Celine Dion.