Sweeter even than apple pie

Whenever I've been in Barneys, the Manhattan equivalent to Harvey Nicks, I've had to queue for a changing room. Not this time. My other personal measure of economic prosperity - the Marc jacket acid test - also indicated that New York's stores aren't exactly trilling with ringing tills.

Normally, the hottest Marc jacket of the season is sold out by now. It is in London. But in Barneys, there were two left. Bergdorf Goodman still had Yves Saint Laurent shoes - the kind that have waiting lists in other cities.

It was bound to be tough after 9/11: however much New Yorkers were extolled to shop for the good of their country, for every woman who seeks comfort in a frivolous purchase there are another five who can't afford to, or who would rather spend $300 on something practical. Against this backdrop of uncertainty came the New York shows, shoe-horned between an accommodating London and a Milan which had refused to budge its dates. It was strange to stumble through a schedule which is usually two days longer and better planned. Stranger still that not one designer showed downtown, as though proximity to Ground Zero would be bad for business.

The designers who had the most to prove were the big guns: Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and Tommy Hilfiger, all of whom have built huge sales around their logos. But people don't want logos right now and Hilfiger in particular seemed a little lost in what to provide his customer with instead. His collection was pleasant, wearable, pretty - am I sounding bland enough? You get the picture.

Happily, Ralph Lauren has another strength besides Polo: a knack for city/country clothes. His spring collection followed on from autumn in the Edwardian vein, with gold brocade corsets and narrow jackets made contemporary by mixing in denim. But it was Donna Karan who best captured a new mood, in a strong collection of sweetheart dresses which came straight out of the Fifties.

Marc Jacobs also returned to this era with an upbeat mix of satin dresses, boucle pencil skirts and pastel-coloured twinsets, which created the biggest buzz of the week. For his second line, Marc, he carried on the thriftstore theme (why change a successful formula?) but this time in more jarring colours and with no Seventies whimsy.

Sportswear was another dominant theme, with Anna Sui abandoning the Woodstock look she does so well in favour of golfing jumpers and tennis skirts. What a pity. Luella Bartley also teamed sporty separates with baseball boots. At Michael Kors, the mood was sporty rather than the clothes being overtly so, with the usual deluxe fabrics that cater so well for his mega-rich Hamptons clientele.

It was also the season of the dress, with Zac Posen sending out a whole collection of individually named ones - Firefly, Phoenix, Fandango - which are sure to be red-carpet fixtures. Is Matthew Williamson having his toes stepped on? If Posen could have Sophie Dahl modelling, then Williamson could have her too, dammit - curvy in a slinky wraparound number with a graphic print.

As well as the bigger names there were also the smaller ones - Narciso Rodriguez, Miguel Adrover, Jeremy Scott, Imitation of Christ, Alice Roi - jostling for attention with their creative, avant-garde clothes. Let's hope next season's New York fashion week returns to its usual length, for there is more than enough good stuff to justify it.