Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Happy Birthday | Fashion publicist and MTV reality show fixture Kelly Cutrone turns 44 today. Chris Noth is turning 55. Whoopi Goldberg is 54.  Gerard Butler celebrates the big 4-0 today. Jimmy Kimmel is 42. Film director Garry Marshall is turning 75. Former Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde turns 46. Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy is 55. Veteran TV reporter Peter Arnett turns 75. Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture is turning 31. Joe Mantegna is 62. And NBA star Ron Artest is turning 30. A handful of weekend birthdays are below. More

• London Fashion Week kicked into high gear over the weekend. Given LFW is celebrating its 25th anniversary and a handful of designers who have been absent in recent years have returned, it's shaping up to be London's biggest year yet. Further proof of LFW's resurgence: Vogue editrix Anna Wintour (seen here fumbling with her BlackBerry) is attending the shows following a two-year hiatus. [Telegraph, LAT, NYT, Guardian]
• While many top NY-based fashion editors are turning up to the shows in London, many mags are saving cash by divvying up editors between the shows in London, Milan, and Paris. Or by making them stay at cheaper hotels. [WWD]
• More highlights and reviews from LFW's first few days. [NYT, NYT, Pipeline] More

We were a little concerned when a tipster emailed us to point out that the website for Kelly Cutrone's fashion PR firm, People's Revolution, had been "suspended." "Did they go out of business or something?" No, thankfully, that is not the case. A call to the firm ("Good morning, People's Revolution!") confirms Kelly is still doing her thing. (She also happens to be hiring, too. So, if anything, it appears Cutrone is in expansion mode.) She would be well advised, though, to bring in a techie to fix whatever is wrong with the site. If she leaves it up to one of the Whitney Port-like girls in the office to fix, it could take months to sort out! 

Kelly Cutrone Needs You | If you're looking for an entry-level job in fashion or PR, you have nerves of steel, and you know how to use a computer (and you can use it to print out labels), note that Kelly Cutrone is looking for a new assistant at her Manhattan office. Interested parties can make contact via this address; people not interested in being abused on an upcoming reality TV show need not apply.

• Kelly Cutrone's forthcoming reality show has a name: Kell on Earth will be a "no-holds-barred look into the life of one of America's most legitimate tastemakers," according to Bravo. [Fashionista]
• Project Runway is looking for contestants for the show's seventh season. Unfortunately if you make the cut, you'll be appearing on Lifetime. [NYM]
• Emma Watson is the new face of Burberry. [SW]
• What's Arden Wohl up to? Posing for a lookbook, for one thing. [Nylon]
• Eccentric fashion on NYC social scene: the hits and misses. [WWD]
• A woman who sold four fake Birkin bags has been fined $7.5 million. It went down in Taiwan, though, so the ladies of Canal Street are safe for now. [NYM]

• Madonna's most recent effort to change hearts and minds in Malawi: She pleaded her case in a letter to the country's Nation newspaper, writing that she wants to provide Mercy "with a home, a loving family environment and the best education and health care possible." [Us, NYP]
• Madonna may want to take a cue from Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: The couple had their adoption request turned down by Bhutan recently, but they're now moving on to the Philippines, according to Britain's Daily Mail. [NYDN]
• Kipton Cronkite's life appears to be headed downhill: The art world scenester has lost his job and apartment, and he's living rent-free with a rich teenager on the Lower East Side. [P6]
• Ruth Madoff will have to find a new stylist: She's been banned from the Pierre Michel Salon "out of respect for the salon's other customers." [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan's mental condition isn't improving: Friends now say she "barely sleeps" anymore, and she "can't even sit down for a minute without pacing around the room." [People]More

Kelly Cutrone's Guide to Life | Fashion publicist/MTV reality show regular Kelly Cutrone has a book in the works! Aimed at "young women who have their sights set on power and success but lack the know-how to attain them," her co-author will be Observer reporter Meredith Bryan. Whatever you do, though, don't compare the "power girl's guide" to anything by Candace Bushnell: "It's a real girl's guide to the real fucking world... Sex and the City was a lot of frosting. I like Candace, and I think she's a good writer, but this isn't four girls holding hands running around New York. It's the real thing." [NYO]

• It isn't easy being a disposable reality TV star. At the Jill Stuart show on Monday, a publicist barked "Show your fucking ring!" to Bethenny Frankel as The Real Housewives of New York star was getting her photo taken. She's probably used to the abuse, though. Frankel later told a reporter that she used to babysit Paris and Nicky Hilton when they were kids. [AMNY, NYO]
• Lindsay Lohan says her dramatic weight loss is simply the result on "working a lot." Of course it is. [Us]
• Monogamy is so old-fashioned: Alex Rodriguez spent Valentine's Day weekend romancing five different women, while Calvin Klein was spotted in Miami with "two model-type guys." [P6]
• Walter and Monica Noel are laying low at their home in Mustique, although they skipped the private jet and flew commercial to get there. [P6]  More

A recap of the shows, parties, and gossip you've missed at Fashion Week thus far after the jump.More

And you were worried that Fashion Week would suck this year! New York's most famous hooker turned up in the front row of Yigal Azrouel's show this morning. Her publicist said Kelly Cutrone had invited her. Naturally. [WWD]

• Kelly Cutrone says normally at this time of year she'd be flying in a chef from India to cook for her. But this Fashion Week she's cutting back on account of the recession. Bring us a tissue! [WWD]
• Arnold Scaasi did not like Jason Wu's gown for Michelle Obama: "I don't think the inaugural gown was flattering in any way... She could have looked much better." Yeow. [NYT]
• Despite the rough economy, Justin Timberlake's William Rast label is holding up nicely. [NYM]
• Anna Sui has landed a book deal. [Fashionista]
• The plywood has been removed outside Topshop in Soho! [Racked]
• Marie Claire is giving away taxi rides to promote Running in Heels. [FWD]
• Istithmar may sell Barneys for less than half what they paid for it in '07. [BN]
• Rents are falling in the garment district, duh. [NYT]
• An alcoholic's guide to Fashion Week. [Pipeline]

GQ held its second annual "Best New Menswear Designer in America" competition last night in conjunction witht he CFDA. Finalists like Andre "3000" Benjamin, David Mullen, Alex Carleton, Robert Geller, Sam Shipley, Jeff Halmos, and Yigal Azrouel were joined by guests like Tommy Hilfiger, Fern Mallis (left), Thom Browne, Jim Nelson, Kelly Cutrone, Phillip Lim, Derek Lam, Peter Som, Rory Tahari, Chase Crawford, Steven Kolb, Ally Hilfiger, Fonzworth Bentley, David Chu, Ryan Leslie, David Lauren, Katie Lee Joel, Glenn O'Brien, Steven Alan, Calvin Klein mens creative director Italo Zucchelli, GQ publisher Peter Hunsinger, and last year's winner, Daiki Suzuki. [PMc, NYO, FWD] More

Brace yourselves! As designers shrink their Fashion Week budgets, fewer celebrities will be paid to perch front row, smile for photographers, and pretend to be fans. Fashion's most high-profile show producer, Kelly Cutrone, isn't sorry, though, citing the contrivance of certain designer/celeb matchings: "The Miss Sixty show last season I thought was the least authentic show I'd really seen. I don't believe Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were sitting around saying, 'What are you doing, honey? The shows are on. Let's go to Miss Sixty.'" Indeed! So we will assume that Cutrone won't be availing herself of any easy publicity by enlisting her reality TV cohorts Whitney Port and Olivia Palermo for her clients' shows.

• Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his new girlfriend, Helen May, first met during an Outward Bound trip to Machu Picchu in 2005, according to May's husband, Kevin Ward. "I'm just sorry my wife didn't find someone more substantial. There's way less there than meets the eye." [P6]
• Etta James says she "didn't really mean" the stuff about Beyonce; she's still "miffed" at Obama for not inviting her to the inauguration. [NYDN]
• Kelly Cutrone inked a deal with Bravo for a new reality show. [P6]
• Russell Simmons is reportedly dating model Julie Henderson. [NYDN]More