Inspired by the following (DIDDY DENIED) item from the New York Daily News' "Confidenti@l" column:

• The Carolina Herrera dress that Anna Wintour wore on Dave Letterman's show this week? She wore it to the CFDA Awards back in June. Uh oh! [Stylelist]
• Zac Posen is the latest designer to bid goodbye to Bryant Park this Fashion Week. He'll be staging his show at The Altman Building instead. [WWD]
• Another good thing about the recession: There are fewer crappy catalogs getting stuffed in your mailbox. [AP]
• The September Issue doesn't open in theaters until Friday, but it seems some people (above) are already sick of all the publicity. [NYShitty]

Cassie, the singer best known for her hair and for having hooked up with Diddy, turns 23 today. Macaulay Culkin is turning 29. Thalia, the Latin singer and wife of music honcho Tommy Mottola, is 38. Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro is turning 74. Former Homeland Security boss Tom Ridge is 64. Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson turns 63. Actor Chris Pine is turning 29. Shirley Manson of the band Garbage is 43. Upper East Side interior designer Lisa Jackson is turning 51. Legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee turns 88. And New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz turns 57 today.

• Eliot and Silda Spitzer made their first public appearance together last night. The couple turned up at the Waldorf for the eighth annual Children's Benefit Gala and were spotted holding hands and making "lovey-dovey looks at each other." Unconditional love is a beautiful thing. [NYDN]
• The stress over the Kiefer Sutherland/Jack McCollough incident must be getting to Brooke Shields: She was spotted looking "upset, overwhelmed and stressed" at the Innocence Project gala on Wednesday night. On a related note, the desk appearance ticket Kiefer received yesterday means he will be a free man until he shows up in court on June 21. [NYDN, NYP]
• Lindsay Lohan's 15-year-old sister Ali has reportedly dropped out of high school so she can party full-time with her big sister. Good work, Dina. [P6]
• Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are expecting girls when their surrogate gives birth in a few weeks. [OK!]

Lucky hosted its fifth annual "Lucky Shops" last night inside the Metropolitan Pavilion. Lucky editor Kim France and publisher Gina Sanders welcomed Leighton Meester, Jessica Szohr, Georgina Chapman, Katrina Bowden, Alexandra Richards, Charlotte Ronson, Thalia, Beverly Johnson, Ginny Barber, and Michaela McManus, who all did a little shopping to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation. [The Daily, PMc, Wireimage]

Former child star (and now author and indie actor) Macaulay Culkin is 28 today. Others celebrating today: Cassie, the pop star and occasional Diddy flame, is 22. Thalia, the Latin singer (and wife of Tommy Mottola) is 37. Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson is 42. Interior designer Lisa Jackson is 50. Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro is turning 73. Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge is 63. And Times crossword editor Will Shortz is 56.

• Diddy and Cassie are secretly engaged? That's what the highly credible Star says. The rap mogul apparently told friends during son Justin's graduation from Horace Mann last month. [Star]

Alex Rodriguez leaving his apartment building en route to All-Star Game festivities at the Hyatt in Midtown ... Heidi Klum leaving NBC and posing with fans after a Today appearance ... Cassie eating lunch outside at Bar Pitti with a friend ... Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber packing up the SUV with luggage outside their Noho apartment ... Blake Lively and Penn Badgley filming a Gossip Girl makeout scene on the Upper East Side ... Christian Bale signing autographs on Park Avenue during an afternoon walk with his wife Sibi.

• Jose Canseco says Madonna once tried to marry him and have his baby, so she could give daughter Lourdes a Cuban sibling with great genes. He joins Dennis Rodman on the would-be Madonna baby-daddy list. [NYDN]