Had Richard Blackwell, aka Mr. Blackwell, lived to this day, the legendary American fashion critic would have probably found his caustic reviews, including his much-awaited annual list of “10 Worst Dressed Women,” irrelevant.

At no time has fashion criticism become as democratized and as inclusive as now. Thanks to social media, every smartphone-armed person with a mouthful to say and the daring to push the post button can do so at warp speed, and with incriminating pictures and wicked memes to match.

Apart from going viral, such scathing criticisms and images evolve and gain more venom with each critic that tries to outdo the other. Mr. Blackwell wouldn’t probably stand a chance against such a collective, cruel and anonymous world.

This digital dissing contest among netizens was again fully evident  Monday afternoon, on the red carpet walk to President Aquino’s fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) at Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City.

As Sen. Nancy Binay found out, the online fashion spotting started hours earlier when she and several female colleagues posed for photographers at the Senate’s opening session in Pasay City.

Within seconds, their images, including that of Binay, were dissected mercilessly by citizen fashion critics.

Binay’s detractors described her garb as a hot air balloon-slash-bolsa de hielo-inspired skirt.

But despite its speed and immense reach, social media have  one major weakness. Since the fingers are much faster than the mind, most of the comments on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, were not only extremely vicious but were also woefully lacking in perspective.

Bashers, such as the few leftist and party-list groups, exist solely to nitpick.

Rather than dwell on the how-not-to’s, Lifestyle has decided to focus on a few Sona red-carpet looks that worked.

People say that the focus should be on the salient issues of the President’s speech, not on who wore what. And yet—they continue to talk about who wore what.

Such is the style of democracy.