Today, as fans stood in line for hours at Rihanna's book-signing at the Fifth Avenue Barnes & Noble in New York City, one animal-loving fan asked the pop sensation an important question: "Would you consider going fur-free?" To the fan's delight, Rihanna replied, "I will."

Is Rihanna being sincere? Let's hope she will realize that fur is "rated R"—as in repulsive, rotten, and ruthless—and will leave animal corpses out of her closet for good. If so, we are ready to reach out to help. But only time will tell, and PETA will be keeping an eagle eye on what she wears. As you may know, Rihanna was included on PETA's Worst-Dressed List last year—if she follows her fan's advice, she may escape the dishonor this year.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

hollywoodgrind / CC

We at PETA were all saddened to hear about the passing of fashion maven Mr. Blackwell. Before the Fug Girls took up their Fugging and before Joan Rivers attacked the red carpet, Mr. Blackwell was releasing his yearly "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list.

There are a couple of reasons why Mr. Blackwell was so well-loved at PETA. First, his list was the inspiration for our own infamous Worst-Dressed List of notorious fur-addicts. His lists included the most biting barbs and were packed with puns and alliterative allusions (he rhymed, too, but I'm not very good at that). We loved that his 2006 list included fur hag Sharon Stone, whom he described as "an over-the-hill Cruella DeVille." Of course, we had already included her in our 2001 list, saying, "Put your fur coat away, Sharon. We saw enough of that tired old beaver in Basic Instinct."

We've agreed with Mr. Blackwell on more than just those two occasions, though. He described Madonna as follows: "From Ghetto Glam to Rhinestone Cowgirl to Mrs. Guy Ritchie. Any way you label it, she's still just kitschy, kitschy, kitschy." We said of the Material Girl: "The animal on her back is as dead as her film career—and duck-hunting hubby Guy Ritchie is not going to revive either." Whoopsie, I guess those little barbs aren't too relevant anymore!

Mr. Blackwell also agreed with us on the subject of the Trollsen Twins, saying of Hairy-Kate, "She resembles a tattered toothpick trapped in a hurricane." And finally, both we and Mr. Blackwell elected to pull Britney Spears off of our respective Worst-Dressed Lists in 2007; PETA decided that she needed a break from everyone, and Mr. Blackwell decided it was inappropriate to mock her "when her personal life [was] in such upheaval."

What can we say? Great minds think alike, and Mr. Blackwell was truly a great mind—2008 won't be quite the same without his list. It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our inspiration: the king of catty, Mr. Blackwell.

Written by Amanda Schinke