This season, HuffPost Lifestyle asked for more diversity at New York Fashion Week. We wanted NYFW to be an inclusive event for people of all skin tones, genders, sizes, shapes and personalities. To help in our effort, we launched the hashtag #NYFW4ALL to earmark any moment over the course of the week that helped to democratize the event.
Over the past eight days, we have worked to highlight runway shows that feature more body diversity, the unique struggles that face models of color models and many other initiatives that worked to make fashion week more inclusive.
Although the industry has a long way to go, we were pleasantly surprised by many of the positive changes we saw. Check out some of the best moments below.
1. Not only did Ashley Graham partner with Canadian retailer Addition Elle to launch her own line of lingerie this summer, but during NYFW she modeled the collection alongside a number of other beautiful plus-size models.
2. Two plus-size models walked in the Chromat show. And this wasn't the first time designer Becca McCharen featured more diversity on her runway. Here's hoping this becomes a trend that lasts.
3. Madeline Stuart, an 18-year-old Australian model who has Down syndrome, opened the Hendrik Vermeulen show. Stuart became the second person with Down syndrome to walk in NYFW.
4. Carrie Hammer featured role models instead of runway models in her Spring 2016 show. The designer featured Olympic athletes, CEOs and speechwriters on her catwalk.
5. Many natural hairstyles made appearances at Spring 2016 shows. Black and biracial models with different hair types and textures, including curly, wavy and kinky, radiated as they stormed the runways.
6. Kerby Jean-Raymond, the founder and head designer of Pyer Moss, started his runway show by showing a short film about the horrific police brutality on black men and women that have filled headlines -- and several that flew under the radar.
7. Renowned fashion activist Bethann Hardison continued to be relentless in pushing the issue of diversity in the industry by speaking out in forums like this NYFW-sponsored talk.
8. Plus-size model Candice Huffine made her NYFW runway debut at Sophie Theallet.
9. Josh Ostrovsky aka The Fat Jew held his very first runway show focused on dad bods. The comedian found his models on Craigslist and sent them down the runway in items from Kmart and Walgreens. If that's not #NYFW4ALL, we're not sure what is.
10. Harlem’s Fashion Row, an organization that helps mentor emerging designers of color, continued to champion black designers and featured African designer Thulare Monareng, Bermuda-born designer Meagan S.E. Wellman and Brooklyn-based Fe Noel, in its bi-annual show.
11. Marc Jacobs, arguably the biggest designer to show during NYFW, cast plus-size singer Beth Ditto in his show on Thursday evening. Ditto famously made her first fashion week debut back in 2010 on the Jean Paul Gaultier runway.
12. Trans designer Gogo Graham held her runway show at the Ace Hotel on Thursday night and only used transgender models on her catwalk.
13. For the second year in a row, dapperQ, the "leading style website for masculine women and trans identified individuals," spearheaded a massive queer fashion show at The Brooklyn Museum.
Watch our original #NYFW4ALL videos:
Also on HuffPost:
