New York’s Fashion Week is going full steam under the Bryant Park tents, with more than 250 runway shows planned (there and in other scattered locations around the city). The shows of styles for spring 2009 started Friday, they begin every hour from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., they almost always start late, everybody pretends not to look at celebrities and pundits are wondering what the top American designers will trot out in such touchy economic times.

Photos from Style.com

A few well-knowns have already shown their stuff, including Calvin Klein (top left), Nicole Miller, DKNY (who is celebrating 20 years next spring), Herve Leger by Max Azria (can those bandage wrap dresses get any tighter? above center), and Diane von Furstenberg (who was inspired by Diana Vreeland for spring, above right).

Today some of the heavy hitters emerge: Carolina Herrera, Isaac Mizrahi, Proenza Schouler, Marc Jacobs. If you really want all the details on every show, you’ll need a subscription to WWD. If you want to know, but not shell out the dough, you can find slideshows and details from The New York Times (don’t miss Cathy Horyn’s daily blog - she’s a snappy writer and she’s great at spotting stars and trends), Style.com (the online iteration of Vogue), InStyle.com (with live coverage all week) and the Glam fashion bloggers.

The official Web page of the shows has information, as does Fashion Week Daily (they’ve got video). Other fun sites and blogs to watch include TeamSugar, New York Magazine, and who knows which bloggers (ShinyStyle is there and a fun read).