Following in the footsteps of Mischa Barton, Hayden Panettiere, and everybody’s favorite Party of Five cast member, Emma Roberts has just been signed on as the new brand ambassador for Neutrogena.

The 18-year old Nickelodeon princess, who made her rounds at Spring 09 last year in New York, has previously modeled for Dooney & Bourke, another hallmark of commercially successful teen queens (think Lindsay Lohan, and Hayden, again).

Interestingly, Neutrogena/Dooney girls tend to have a penchant for designing on the side: Lindsay’s leggings, Mischa’s line of purses, Hayden’s guest designing for Dooney & Bourke, etc (fortunately, Jennifer Love’s star fell long before starlets were required to design anything but careers with direct-to-video endings).

So is this the first of many stepping stones on the way to Emma Roberts, the Collection?

And now, a note from Faran…

Maybe this is dating me, but here’s a list of the Nickelodeon shows I watched religiously:

Hey, Dude!
Salute Your Shorts
Nick News with Linda Ellerbee
The Secret World of Alex Mack

None of these shows involved fashion, despite the fact that 11-year-old me was obsessed with W, Vogue, and Mademoiselle (again, maybe this is dating me).

But now it seems Nickelodeon is climbing off the horses and summer camp flagpoles, and onto the fashion bandwagon. After its announcement of Lily Collins as fashion news correspondent, and after its Unfabulous star Emma Roberts signed a campaign deal for Dooney + Bourke, they crafted a TV show about a fashion company called True Fashion that hires a teenage girl to run their juniors department.

The good news is that the girl will be played by Keke Palmer, the adorable star of Akeela and the Bee seen at left.

The bad news is that… well… maybe it’s not “bad” news, but do you want your 11-year-old daughter or sister having fantasies about working in fashion? That’s a loaded question, and I’m grateful and thrilled to actually work in the fashion industry, but still - worth discussing.

And for the record, here are the Nickelodeon shows I watch religiously now:

iCarly
Drake + Josh
The Backyardigans - I can’t explain it, I think the spooky cartoon hippo is amazing.

xo F.

Who’s Lily Collins?

1. A model signed with Next.

2. A girl who turns up in Marc in Teen Vogue’s party pages.

3. (Perhaps most significant) Phil Collins’ daughter.

4. A student at USC

And now?

4. Nickelodeon’s fashion reporter.

Lily will report from the sets of Nickelodeon shows, movie premiers, award shows, etc, to bring viewers 30-second clips of fashion news throughout the day, kind of like when MTV used to air news “on the hour every hour.”

We’re not sure how you would spin fashion into an interesting subject for a viewership of six year-olds (focus on accessories?) but, at the very least, we’re sensing a Teen Vogue cover in Lily’s very near future.

While some Top Model junkies debate whether the competition was rigged in favor of winner Saleisha Stowers, the newest reality winner has arrived in New York.

We hear Ms. Saleisha visited the Elite offices in Manhattan for the first time yesterday, though she wasn’t sent out on any go-sees because she was too busy getting interviewed by the press (funny, we never got to speak with her!).

The general consensus seems to be that she’s a very cute girl - but is that enough to actually book jobs?

Probably not, though we can totally see her guest-starring on a children’s sitcom like Hannah Montana - if anything, Saleisha looks like a really adorable, accessible pop star from Nickelodeon… in heels.

Fab Sugar rocked our world this week by posting this photo of Rihanna at the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards.

To us, the photo signals three things:

1. That spring is officially here, as signaled by the fabulous, fauxhemian Gucci dress that Rihanna chose to sport.

2. That kids’ awareness of fashion has skyrocketed since we watched Nickelodeon ten years ago, when - if we remember correctly - Alicia Silverstone showed up for the same awards in a pink sweatsuit by Tart, and Will Smith wore a hoodie that his friends had graffitid for him.

3. That Rihanna is going to be a little style icon. And we love her, so that’s good.

I do wonder what The Fug Girls are thinking, though… and, as always, what you are.