MR. BLACKWELL’S WORST: 30 Years of Fashion...

MR. BLACKWELL’S WORST: 30 Years of Fashion Fiascos by Mr. Blackwell with Vernon Patterson (Pharos: $14.95, illustrated). This year-by-year collection of Worst Dressed lists features more cheap shots than a 25 video arcade. In typically overblown prose, the author states that his waspish lists have become “something of a cause celebre among fashion victims, Seventh Avenue, the American public and the world at large.” The recipients of his tasteless put-downs include Whoopi Goldberg (“A cover girl for Sharecropper’s Monthly” ) , Princess Anne (“the boring bag lady of Buckingham Palace”) and Barbra Streisand (“Yentl’s gone mental”). Filled with unflattering photographs of the list-makers and scrupulously flattering ones of the author, this tacky, overproduced tome demonstrates that Mr. Blackwell cares passionately about his lists; the mystery is why the editors at Pharos thought anyone else would.