It's always refreshing on the last day of Fashion Week to go see what we can buy now (or at least soon), since so much of what we've just looked at won't be here until fall.

That's why it's always fun to go to the Banana Republic offices near Chelsea to see what's new for spring and summer.

I think Banana's shoes just keep getting cuter, including this pair of zebra print flats. I really like the contrast of the black, orange and white. The shoes are part of Banana's urban safari collection that includes plenty of khaki and military-inspired separates for summer. The zebra prints are all over the collection, from shoes to bags to dresses.

Banana also has really stepped up its game with new handbags. These two woven bags are part of a bigger trend going on now where every store, including H&M, has a braided bag. I still think it's a chic look, especially for summer.

It's finally done! Fashion Week, fall 2008, is over. Here's the nitty gritty on the week.

Favorite show: Michael Kors

Favorite piece: Green satiny cocktail dress by Lela Rose, shown above. What you can't see is the deep V in the back and the sash. Love it.

Wish I had taken a nap instead: Erin Fetherston

Can’t wait to buy for fall: skirts! blouses! riding jackets!

Will pass on for fall: anything with fur, feathers or organza and riding pants

What NYC fashionistas have inspired me to go buy (and wear): colored and patterned tights

Really wished I’d been invited to: Project Runway

Best celeb sighting (a tie): Fergie and Julia Stiles

Biggest high: Chatting with Kristi Yamaguchi (who is so nice!)

Biggest low (a tie): when organizers of the Matthew Williamson show called to tell me that I had a standing seat, and if I didn’t want to come, that was ok, because there were too many people coming anyway OR when a photographer pushed me out of the way while trying to get a picture of Anne Hathaway, telling me that she (the photographer) was a professional journalist insinuating that I was not after looking down and my little Sony camera.

What I am most looking forward to doing: eating dinner! Or really, eating a dinner that isn't sliced apples and cheese or a slice of pizza.

You’ve got to hand it to the girls at Spanx. They get it.

They set up a showroom in the penthouse of the Bryant Park Hotel this week to show press what’s new with Spanx and explain how Spanx works (like any of us need an explanation!).

In case you haven't discovered Spanx, Spanx is what you need underneath if you want to fit into all that stuff coming down the runway.

Or, better still, when you had a few too many of those pork nachos and fried pickles the night before and the zipper isn’t quite making it to the top the next morning.

Yeah. You know what I'm talking about. Apparently, Spanx compression factor can make it seem as if you’ve lost 3-5 pounds - like you never even sampled those pickles!

Spanx was created by a woman named Sara Blakely who basically was frustrated by what was on the market. Now, Spanx is a huge company with an array of products to compress - tights, panties, leggings, body shapers.

Which brings us to Spanx's news. After focusing on compressing our lower half, Spanx is now focused on slimming the top half. The company has a new bra that’s partly made from hosiery fabric in the most important parts – the parts where the metal stuff used to go, so it molds to fit your shape. Ahh . . .

Yeah. Sounded interesting to me, too. Instead of metal parts that show through your clothes and can dig into your skin, it’s now fabric. Nice. Plus, it's supposed to help keep your skin from bulging out from the sides of your bra. Extra nice. (The company calls that VBL, visible bra lines)

They're calling the bra Bra-llelujah.

There’s other stuff, which I completely did not know. Spanx now has Assets, its lower priced line that's supposed to do pretty much the same kind of firming trick as Spanx, but it's sold at Target stores instead of boutiques and department stores (where Spanx is sold). Assets includes a variety of tights and leggings, and other body shaping products, including a firming cami that costs about $20 and goes up to size 2X and a firming panty starts at $14 and goes up to size 2X.

Spanx is available in the Triangle at boutiques such as J. Alane's in Raleigh.

As promised, a bit more about Alice + Olivia.

First of all, the designer Stacey Bendet opted to have her fall presentation at her store, which is conveniently located at 40th and 6th, just across from the Bryant Park tents.

That's probably one of the big reasons she had such a huge turnout. The place was mobbed with press. It was a "breakfast in bed" themed show, with models wearing fall clothes in what's supposed to be their bedrooms.

A stretch? Maybe. But the four-tiered collection worked. The looks went uptown and downtown, modern and 70s diva, with pops of pink and turquoise and neutrals of taupe, chocolate brown and grey.

One of my favorite pieces was this bold checkered silk shirt under a skinny black knit dress.

A+O is sold in the Triangle at stores such as Fleur.

So I'm pretty sure that these boots won't fly off the shelves at home.

But I think it's really cool that Payless is a) even making them at all, and b) making them so that they're available to the masses at less than $45.

The peep-toe wedge boot is called the Rivington, and it's designed to go with jeans, pants or a sexy dress.

It's one of six styles that Stacey Bendet created for Payless for fall. The other styles include a Mary Jane flat with a pleated toe that comes in fun colors such as chocolate with red piping, a dress boot in patent leathers such as electric blue and electric yellow and a Mary Jane wedge in bold patterns.

The only bad part about the collection is that we likely won't be able to buy them at Payless stores at home. Only select stores will get the collection.

However, you can buy them online at Payless.com, have them shipped for free to a nearby store and then try them on. If they don't fit, you can just return them right there.

It's official. Andre Leon Talley is at Fashion Week. I saw him in the front row at Vera Wang this morning. I didn't see him sneak in, either. It wasn't until the show was over that I spotted him.

Whew. It wouldn't be Fashion Week without Andre. Or better still, it wouldn't be Fashion Week without Andre blowing me off! I've got one more day to make that happen.

I realize now, dear fashion blog reader, that my picture of Julia Stiles was pitiful. Really sad. I'm really sorry.

So this is what I did for you: I got another one!

And this one is much, much better, don't you think? I was at the Alice + Olivia press breakfast talking to the PR flak for Payless (Alice + Olivia has some CUTE patent leather booties coming out in fall for Payless, but more on those later) and then I turn around, and there's Julia. At the presentation. Which is so bizarre because it seems celebs never come to the press events.

And maybe they shouldn't? Julia was quickly the center of attention, momentarily stealing the show from Stacey Bendet, who was personally walking press around the presentation, talking in detail about the fall collection. (more on that in a bit as well...)

So here's my picture of Julia and Stacey.

Annie Tomlin, beauty editor at bellasugar.com, seems to think so. She said from what she's seen backstage at shows, make-up artists are using less of what's been the hugely popular lip gloss and more lipstick.

"Lipstick is back in a huge way," she said.

It's either a sheer or creamy lip coming down the runway, she said.

Her theory: With more womanly clothes coming down the runways, the lips have to mature too, and that means no more girly lip gloss.

"The lips are grown up," she said.

Meanwhile, nails are still short, with most designers going with a nude, pale pink or gunmetal or industrial gray for nail color.

And hair is long and wavy, which seems to be a trend every season.

Due to my technical error, this photo from Tiffany Koury's show didn't make it in the print section of the N&O.

She said this dress took three weeks to complete, mostly because the stones had to be hand sewn onto the dress. It was one of my favorites from the show.

Julia Stiles was late arriving to Temperley Wednesday evening, just part of what pushed the show's start back an extra 20 minutes.

The other stuff we'll never know. Wardrobe malfunctions? Late-arriving models? But the photographers clearly weren't happy about the delay. At several points during the extra long wait, they started chanting loudly and yelling to get the show started.

Fashion Week organizers calmed them down, and all was fine once the 7 p.m. show got started at 8 p.m. (Rocker chic collection from Temperley, far different from her ladylike looks just a few seasons ago.)

But do they pull that stunt when Marc Jacobs is running two hours late? No. Perhaps Alice Temperley should have studded her front row with more stars to keep the photographers happy.

So it's Wednesday night, just two more full days of Fashion Week, and I have yet to see Andre Leon Talley. What's up with that?

But before you go starting rumors, there was an Andre sighting by one of my colleagues at Baby Phat Friday.

The Michael Kors show got a late start because of some last-minute arrivals of big stars, including Debra Messing. Also at the show: Sigourney Weaver, Eva Longoria, Candice Bushnell and Ellen Pompeo.

No pictures. I was eighth row, and with the way people were scamming seats at that show? I wasn’t about to leave mine to get celeb pictures!

Also included the stunning Ana Ortiz from “Ugly Betty” in a fun Nanette Lepore print dress and what looks like to be YSL pumps?

And then there was John Slattery, who I always remember as one of Carrie’s “Sex and the City” boyfriends. You know, the one in between Big and Aidan, or maybe it was in between Aidan and Big? Either way, didn’t like that character so much. And I haven’t seen Slattery in “Mad Men.” But he seemed more than friendly letting all of us snap his photo while waiting for Nanette’s show to start.

Kristi Yamaguchi, who lives in Raleigh with her family, was in New York Wednesday and made her first-ever appearance at Fashion Week when she showed up at the Nanette Lepore show.

What a debut! The ice skater, who is married to the Hurricane’s hockey player Bret Hedican, was absolutely lovely in a navy Nanette Lepore dress with a ruffled bib front.

Yamaguchi says she loves Lepore’s clothes, especially for special occasions. “I like the fit and femininity,” she said “You feel put together when you have it on.”

She also appreciates Lepore’s attention to detail, from the lace detailing to the quality of construction.