The girl’s got some appalling taste, but at least she knows it. In an attempt to salvage her style reputation, sources say Britney Spears has hired Lori Goldstein to help spiff up her wardrobe.

The decision couldn’t have come at a better time. Earlier this month, The New York Post ran a full-page article-cum-intervention on Spears’ fashion sense. After a series of excessive and absurd style decisions, the pop diva apparently put the paper over the edge with the fruitcake cabaret get-up she wore recently on MTV’s Carson Daly Roast.

The mini-skirt, pop art leggings, rhinestone bowtie, fedora and Page Six T-shirt designed by Sophomore (but cut and cropped by Britney) were all bought by Spears on a shopping spree at House of Field in New York.

Besides the tee, "her outfit was clearly from hell", thundered the Post’s Libby Callaway. Fortunately, award-winning stylist Goldstein knows some-thing about turning trashy stars into class acts. The former Steven Meisel wing-woman made Madonna into a Galliano-and-Sevilla-clad Spanish seductress for her Take a Bow video - a job she won an MTV video music award for. And for years, Goldstein was the stylist behind the Versace runway shows and all the effortless decadence of its ad campaigns.

Yet Goldstein’s efforts to make Spears more ladylike have, so far, been futile. For the MTV event, she apparently pulled several elegant outfits for her, including some Chanel dresses, but Britney bucked the suggestions in favour of her own stripper ensemble. And, for the recent Legally Blonde 2 premiere in New York, Goldstein picked out a crinkle chiffon J. Mendel gown and chopped about 15 centimetres from the bottom of it for the diminutive diva. Unfortunately, Spears flaked and was a no-show at the event.

Goldstein’s office had "no comment" on anything having to do with Spears.

While change is clearly slow for Spears, everyone from Courtney Love to Lauryn Hill, from Puffy to Aerosmith is attempting to avoid fashion sins by consulting an expert with a contact book brimming with designers, and closets brimming with free clothes Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and Prada are keen for them to don publicly.

In the late 1980s, Madonna was judged radical wearing Dolce & Gabbana and Gaultier bustiers on tour. More recently, hip-hop queen Hill was spotted wearing Armani on stage, Gwen Stefani and Elton John wear Versace, Lenny Kravitz shines in Hilfiger and Mary J. Blige performs in Fendi.

But image has always been vital to musicians. Remember Jimi Hendrix with his boa-trimmed jackets, Rod Stewart in leopard lycra (Richard Tyler), the androgynous David Bowie, safety pins and the Sex Pistols (Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren) and don’t forget Courtney Love and her retro baby-doll look.