They called him Blackwell … Mr. Blackwell, but his real name was Richard Selzer (and, yes, friends called him Dick). The acerbic style aficionado died yesterday in Los Angeles at age 86.

He was once an actor and fashion designer and stylist for the likes of Nancy Reagan. But he is most renowned for his scathing attacks on celebrity style, or rather the lack thereof. His annual list has became a hallmark of the fashion industry. To be skewered by Blackwell was a badge of honor. He was always vicious, but highly selective.

He has chronicled Hollywood fashion catastrophes since 1960 when he developed his Worst Dressed List. His name has since become synonymous with fashion criticism at it’s snarkiest. He set the gold standard for fashionable attacks. Selzer as his alter ego Mr. Blackwell can probably be credited — or blamed, depending on your perspective — with the burgeoning industry of fashion lambasting pseudo-professionals at every red carpet affair. So the many, many (did I say many) Hollywood personal stylists who now make a living dressing the stars also owe Blackwell for their careers. He put fear in the hearts of starlets, divas and Hollywood legends alike.

Selzer was among the first to publicly acknowledge when a star had missed the mark and he did so brutally. Before that admirers would have though it gauche to criticize the hem of a celebrity’s garment or the color selection of a starlets dress — at least they didn’t say such things outloud. Blackwell believed that no one was above reproach. Until Mr. Blackwell’s list came along, the most popular style indicators were positive, such as the International Best Dressed List dispensed by legendary fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert. But how can we learn from purely glowing reports. If there are not consequences for failure how can people be spurred to strive for greatness.

It would have been nice if that had been Blackwell’s legacy. But the frequent criticism today is the fact that everyone plays it safe. No one wants to overreach for fear of being vehemently riddled with the kind of attacks that must conjure up similar fears to being publicly stoned by an angry mob. So we take the good with the bad as we say goodbye to Mr. Blackwell and wonder which arbiter of style will fill the critical hole his absence will leave. Well, there might be a few who won’t be in mourning.

In 2007, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton tied for No. 1 on Mr. Blackwell’s 47th annual “Worst Dressed Women List.” He called them “two peas in an over-exposed pod” and “style-free and fashion deprived.”

This year, Blackwell released his 48th annual list of “Ten Titans of Taste-Free Terrors.” And Victoria Beckham was accused of “skinny-mini monstrosities.”

Also on the 2008 list, Amy Winehouse was called “Part 50’s car-hop horror,” and Mary-Kate Olsen was said to resemble “a tattered toothpick-trapped in a hurricane.”

Among quips from years past:

Madonna: “The Bare-Bottomed Bore of Babylon.”

Barbra Streisand: “She looks like a masculine Bride of Frankenstein.”

Christina Aguilera: “A dazzling singer who puts good taste through the wardrobe wringer.”

Meryl Streep: “She looks like a gypsy abandoned by a caravan.”

Sharon Stone: “An over-the-hill Cruella DeVille.”

Lindsay Lohan: “From adorable to deplorable.”

And Blackwell also produced a lesser known list of “Fabulous Fashion Independents,” in year’s past the list has included Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie and Helen Mirren.