Bleeding edge fashion hound, Rihanna tells Women’s Wear Daily she is hard at work on her own clothing line. A frequent front-row guest at runway shows, the singer has already put her imprimatur on a line of Totes umbrellas. No confirmation on when – or what – the line will include, but sexy undies are definitely under consideration. During her mock presidential campaign, Paris Hilton named the “Disturbia” singer as her VP pick. Now that Inaugural Ball gown would go down in history.

New York magazine recently asked six influential people to name their top ten most influential people, outside of themselves (never mind the weird factor of having to impose a self-exclusion order). Gawker did its own cross-breakdown of the six lists: quintessential New Yorker Spike Lee made the cut, but he was in, like the bottom three, ranked higher than only two people – John McEnroe and Barbara Walters. Seriously?

Robin Thicke is the current king of soul music??

That’s the noise coming from his camp behind the release of his new CD, “Something Else.” Don’t his handlers know a reckless proclamation like that is the quickest way to land him in the remainders bin? To his credit, Thicke doesn’t make the proclamation himself, stating in a Newsday interview, “…Depending on [the] room I walk into I could catch a lot of hater energy or I could catch a lot of ‘You’re the real thing…’ It depends which corner I turn.”

Aussie website, LiveNews reports that a certain unnamed Hollywood exec almost pulled the plug on Australian director Rowan Woods because Woods fought to keep Oscar winner Forest Whitaker in his new film Winged Creatures, a story that centers around a random shooting in a Los Angeles diner and how it affects the lives of those who witness it. The executive is said to have dismissed the actor as “ugly, black and unbankable.”

Despite having a cast which included Guy Pearce, Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Jennifer Hudson, Woods said the company who owned the script couldn’t accept Whitaker as a leading man. Woods told a gathering of colleagues at the recent Australian Directors Guild conference that the company, which he wouldn’t name for legal reasons, eventually let go of the script because of their disagreement over Whitaker. The executives wanted a Michael Douglas or an Al Pacino considered for the role.

“They wanted everyone but Forest Whitaker,” Woods told the audience, “… and this is one of the best actors on the planet.”

With Janet Jackson and boyfriend Jermaine Dupri feelin’ less than sexy the last few days, makes me wonder if maybe they got hold of some of that recalled Cadbury chocolate juiced with melamine-laced milk from China. Feel better, y’all, and stay away from those imports.

Bossip’s quote of the day comes from Reggie Bush on his girlfriend Kim Kardashian. Asked if marriage was in the plans for the two, Bush gave an emphatic, “Yes!” adding, “I look forward to being a father.”

Picture this shot hanging in the family room…

Producer Lee Daniels was so impressed with Mariah Carey’s work ethic on his upcoming flick, Tennessee, he cast her in another! Tennessee, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, tells the story of two brothers who travel from New Mexico to find their estranged father. Carey plays a battered wife who meets up with the two running from her state trooper husband.

Describing his experience with the notorious diva on the set as “a party from beginning to end,” Daniels subsequently cast her in Push as a Harlem social worker who takes to her new client, an obese, HIV-positive woman twice impregnated by her father. Alrighty, then.

As part of his three-year, first-look deal with Lionsgate Films, Tyler Perry will “guide the work of other filmmakers” through his newly launched 34th Street Films, a production arm of his Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios. Brought on board to oversee the task are Matt Moore, former EVP /Production at Jinks/Cohen; Poppy Hanks from State Street Pictures and former New Line exec Amber Rasberry.

According to Variety, Moore, who also spent a decade at New Line and will head the new division, executive produced “Take The Lead,” “Next Friday,” and the two “Final Destination” pics.

Call me skeptical, but the arrangement sounds suspiciously like moving Perry to a figurehead position — the filmmaker who sat by the door — if you will, while using his enormous popularity to crank out projects not even remotely similar to his signature franchise. Hollywood is keenly aware of the money to be made from a Black audience hungry for self on the big screen. Comparing this to a corporate model, this is more of a takeover than a partnership.

The question remains whether or not it will be hostile. Developing…

Last night, TMC ran Bobby, the Emilio Estevez-directed feature about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy immediately after winning the ’68 California primary. During one scene, campaign coordinator Nick Cannon loses it and slams down the phone after a brief conversation. What pissed him off was the (true) fact that there was a police watch set up outside a polling place in Watts – a not-so-subtle deterrent to those fiercely Democratic, but marginal citizens who had a misdemeanor or two on their coattails.

Sounds exactly like the rumors I’ve heard this time around about the threatened arrests of voters behind on their child support; the voting rights of Michigan (a battleground state) property owners in foreclosure being challenged, and a multitude of right-leaning tricks the Bad Guys execute so well.

Showing again Sunday morning, Set your alarm clock or your Tivo, and remind yourself of who the Good Guys are.

Song bird and lover of Bees, Jennifer Hudson got engaged on her birthday to “I Love New York 2” breakout star, David Otunga, aka “Punk.” Aside from the uncanny likeness to Terry McMillan’s ex, Jonathan (peeped by Bossip), word is he’s a former lawyer and Harvard law school grad.

I remember Punk from “I Love New York 2,” specifically because he wanted to make one thing perfectly clear: He was not Pootie.

But, if you’re a lawyer and a Harvard grad, why the hell are you on “I Love NY 2″? I wasn’t the only one wondering: During an interview on Chicago’s Power 92-FM, Otunga was asked the same thing. His answer?

“I was attracted to New York. I like a little drama in my women.”

Hudson and Ortega, reportedly dating since May of this year, had plenty in common. Make that a little in common, since Hudson is now a certified star and Punk is still on the hustle.

Check his MySpace page for a clue as to why JHud fell hard. Strictly Ivy League: