When we think of Spring, we don't usually think black and white. But given the Spring 09 collections, this might be about to change. An overwhelming amount of designers showed black and white outfits and many had entire shows based on the shades. The graphic above is just the short list. We swear. We had to leave out Dries Van Noten, Balenciaga, Prada, Versace, Christopher Kane, Rag & Bone, Rock & Republic, YSL, Stella McCartney, Giambattista Valli, Cynthia Rowley, Band of Outsider, Philip Lim.. And we have a feeling the list could go on..

On a side note, this black and white thing could be well used as a background to some neon pieces you might have purchased for Spring 08, no?

-- HAYLEY PHELAN

*editor's note: the dress in the top row, labeled Sonia Rykiel, was actually designed by Michael Kors for Sonia Rykiel.

Obviously, ruffles are one of the big trends for Spring 09 - and this is just a sampling.

They were at both the expected (Catherine Malandrino, Luella) and the unexpected (Ohne Titel), and we now expect to see them at all the usual suspects (Forever 21, Topshop, H&M, J Crew, Blair Waldorf, etc.)

But don't expect them on us - at least, for now...

...Because they were all over the New York runways for Spring.

They came huge (Threeasfour, Jenni Kayne), they came small (DVF, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Phillip Lim), they even came minuscule and in body art-like swirls on sheer tops and leggings (Ohne Titel).

We fully expect to see them in every store come February, but the bigger question remains: Will we see them on every girl come April?

Only if we don't mind looking like disco balls (or Sienna Miller circa 2006)...

Now that New York's part of Spring 09 is over, we can start connecting the polka dots and thinking of the whole blur as a whole, maybe to great effect, maybe just for fun.

Eric Wilson's weekend article on the sheer trend seen at Marc, Calvin Klein and Cushnie et Ochs got the ball rolling - did we notice that there were, in fact, so many nipples on the runways? Did we care? Not really, but here's another thought -

We've been thinking about the sheer trend as one of the many symptoms of a general flashiness witnessed at the shows. The other symptoms - otherwise known as trends - include sequins (more on that later), ruffles, excesses of fabric (floaty dresses, exaggerated harem pants), super short hemlines, super high shoes, and the same super heavy costume jewelry from Fall 08 creeping up onto models' heads, as seen at DVF and Behnaz.

But haven't we always heard that tough economic times are mirrored on the runway, in the form of longer hemlines, more conservative dress (read: none of the under-boob cleavage as seen at Cushnie), and a general boring tone? Yes, this Fashion Week was a little humdrum, but the clothes were showy if not stale, kind of like a day-old cupcake. Is it because we know we're not exactly listening to the news that backgrounded our daily fix of fashion news from The Daily? Like, news that one of the country's oldest and largest investment banks died hard while we considered the most appropriate diameter of sequins for a mini dress?

Or do the flashy looks prove it's just a fun theory not meant for serious analysis? We do know there are some people who think the opposite - that designers glam up their clothes in harder times so consumers are more enticed to part with their dwindling dollar supply.

But of course, that makes it so much stickier.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

We swung by the tents one last time last night before running home to pack for London.

The reason? Chris Han.

We'd heard little about the designer, but a couple of very important buyers standing in line behind us kept talking about the inter-office buzz surrounding her name. So if they were excited, we were excited.

The Korean born Han showed easy, feminine but not girly, clothes that you'd want to throw on for the hottest day in New York. There were lots of sheer tops and shifts layered under little jackets. There were breezy dresses, a couple of wide-leg trousers and one black jumpsuit that we bet is the most flattering of all the jumpsuits out there.

But it was also one of the first shows we've seen where the styling was too distracting. Models wore awkward braids on the side of their heads and flowy tops were paired with too flowy skirts for an unflattering silhouette.

But we'd take any of the pieces, separately. Looked like those buyers will, too.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

1. Are those actual bleachers? Wow, they're wobbling...

2. Front row: Linda Fargo, Julia Stiles, Olivier Zahm - wait, Olivier Zahm?

3. Nice, mostly dresses. Graphic, clean, good for a party.

4. Austria!

5. Madeleine!

6. Just realized this is where Rodarte was last season.

7. These dresses with anatomical lines kind of remind me of Marc's Spring 08, except more graphic, and yet, less graphic.

8. No wait, really, why is Olivier Zahm at Cynthia Rowley?

9. The back straps on that final look, the Gravity-Defying dress, are genius. But a cardigan over it would make you look like you have a hump...

And now, a note from Faran...

Ben Cho's runway was a little more subdued this season - no winking pranks at the end like a knit dress complete with knitting needles and severed hands, etc.

But there were two looks that I couldn't stop replaying, over and over in my head, and they were similar: Silk sheaths with a long and winding tassel, half unhinging across the shoulder or the bodice, swinging crazy and loose in the light.

It was cute, and it was cool, but there was something more:

I couldn't get out of my head that the tassels looked like war decorations, the kind captains use to fringe their shoulders; the kind admirals don during weddings, funerals, and Fleet Week.

It was almost as if those uniforms had dissolved, leaving bits left over for a new generation that had never known war, or martial law, or organized and patriotic death. And that future pack of people picked them up off the floor and went, "Oh, these are pretty, let's put them on our clothes!" Without a care or a reference to rifles in the world.

Will those kind of dresses ever really be in style? Guess we'll find out in November.

Love you guys.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

I'd love to tell you about the clothes at Phillip Lim, but I'm still dreaming about the shoes.

Christian Louboutin partnered with Lim to make the most extraordinary, lust-inducing stiletto platforms I've ever seen.

They also come in flats, which are more realistic, but who wants realism on a runway, or actually, who wants realistic shoes ever?

I'll indulge you on the clothes for just a minute: they're significantly less librarian than Lim's past collections. The dresses and skirts are pretty, with lots of ruffles (very Spring 09). There are sequins, because you need sequins to get into Bryant Park these days, and there are brown leather man bags in the shape of giant envelopes that I need to have.

The clothes will be a huge hit and sell out everywhere because aside from one or two gowns, they will look good, and look cool, on almost everyone.

But I'm saving all my pennies for those shoes.

The first thing we saw when we got to Anna Sui, were the Save the Garment Center shirts on all the ushers. Then, the seating:

The Tent was filled with mostly students claiming their seats were "double booked" whenever actual ticket holders approached them, and major editors sitting sometimes even in the seventh row, kind of laughing amongst themselves.

The giggles continued even with the models, wearing a mish mash of prints and Anna's usual melting pot of ideas - we think it started with Stam, working her usual smirk, but one by one it spread to all the models, some even with their dimples in full force by the end of the runway. The only straight-faced one was Agyness, who managed to keep it serious until she took a tiny stumble in her matador hat, then just let it go.

And that's pretty much how the show went.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

We spent some time backstage before Richard Chai showed his collection to literally all of Vogue yesterday. Here's what we saw:

1) Models eating. A lot.

2) Four people doing Ali Stephens' hair at once. That means eight different hands on her head, all while she played video games on her iPhone.

3) Richard Chai doing last minute fittings (shot after the jump!) A man got under a skirt to pin from the inside. Hope he knew the model.

4) Gorgeous clothes. The thinnest silk with the most delicate prints and textured details. Rows of baby sequins draped to look like liquid. Nervous dressers making sure they knew what their model looked like in person and on their board.

5) Once the show started, Lisa Love, Anna Wintour and Dani Stahl all whipped out their sunglasses in fear of runway lights. Phillip Lim whipped out real glasses in fear of missing the clothes.

6) Once the show ended, Anna smiled.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST