Quietly, the news that Katie Holmes has been working on a line of children’s clothing has been floating around without any real confirmation until ELLE’s Twitter yesterday afternoon.

It seems the former Joey Potter’s foray into fashion as the face of Miu Miu for Spring 09 wasn’t even the beginning, since Katie’s reportedly been working on the line with her stylist, Jeanne Yang (whom you might remember let Katie design that white jumpsuit with her), for over a year.

Whether this is really because she couldn’t find cute/comfortable clothes for the most famous daughter ever, or because she’s jumping on the highly profitable designer kids wear market is unknown, and will probably stay that way.

Meanwhile, if Suri ends up the face of TomKittens Holiday 09, we’ll officially boycott any photos of her immediately.

This just in from WWD: Jean Paul Gaultier is following in the steps of Peter Som, and launching a line of children’s clothing.

He’s just signed a licensing agreement with Zannier, and the first of the line should come out in time for Fall 09.

Best part? He may be calling this “children’s”, but the clothes will be for kids up to the age of 14, so fashionable eighth graders everywhere can get their correctly-fitting Gaultier to show off before phys-ed.

That is, of course, if 14-year olds can shell out cash in the high hundreds for clothes.

Most ten-year-olds we’ve seen seem happy to run around in some combination of loose striped tops, sweat pants, plastic jewelry and baseball caps.

But apparently, at least some people feel that even kids need to up the ante on their personal style.

Footballer’s wife, U.K.-girl-about-town, and occasional model Coleen McLoughlin wrote a series of books called “Coleen Style Queen,” which will offer fashion and make-up advice for the pre-pre-teen set. Expect to see the first two editions this spring. (And if you’re sitting there thinking, “Who?”, keep in mind that footballer’s wives are style icons in the UK - in fact, Henry Holland’s first t-shirt was for Ms. McLoughlin.)

We can’t imagine what a book of style tips for fourth-graders should consist of - appropriate attire for recess? When and where hair clips are acceptable? The etiquette of friendship bracelets?

Young girls are already bombarded with the message that they should obsess over their appearance, watch their weight, and apply sparkly lip gloss whenever possible.

So do they really need to pay attention to fashion trends, too? Or do we desperately need another generation of Britneys?

—ALISON COOL

We never got an American Girl as a child (unless you count the Marilyn Monroe by Warhol poster from Hanukkah ‘95).

Still, we have half fond and half jealous memories of Felicity, Kirsten, and Samantha, the historical dolls whose every adventure, friendship, and fashion accessory were relentlessly chronicled and sold by the
Pleasant Company. Felicity in particular was huge with our friends, probably because her Colonial time period allowed her the most extravagant dresses and also, she looked a bit like Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap.

There was just one issue - with the exception of a few frilly gowns, the clothes were anything but great for these dolls. We could hole up for hours dressing Barbie in trash bag couture and wrap-dresses invented
from our mother’s old scarves. But the American Girls? Oh, they needed a Little Fashion House on the Prairie.

This season, things are changing. The company just introduced two new dolls named Julie and Ivy who are both from the ’70s (okay, Felicity was from the 1770s, but that doesn’t count). Along with Title IX and Nixon, the girls are also
learning about caftans, bell bottoms, and mood rings.

The cynical part of Fashionista worries this is all American Girl needs to start an overpriced denim line to go with their overpriced dolls.

The rest of us thinks if girls start thinking tunics and disco dresses are cuter than Juicy Couture and the Cheetah Girls, this is a very good step.