New York Fashion Week has been a tradition of twice-yearly elegance and groundbreaking fashion since 1943. Each year, both in September and February, some of the world's best fashion designers bring their newest pieces to a week of high-fashion runway shows. This February's show, which lasted from the 10th to the 18th, pushed the limits in more than just crazy new looks.

This year's group of models was certainly the most diverse yet. Lately, plenty of things have been under fire for lack of diversity; most noticeably, The Oscars. However, modeling is another field where diversity is usually lacking and which can often receive a lot of criticism for all-white runways.

In this month's show, a wide variety of women of color were featured in shows by many different designers, including Telfar, Gypsy Sport, Rosie Assoulin, Sophie Theallet and Tory Burch. One designer, Lamine Kouyaté (for Zac Posen and Xuly.Bët), expressed a desire to cast an all-black show. However, he actually later stated that it had been a challenge for him to even find enough models of color, and in particular, ones with enough experience to walk in the show.

This truly proves the favor placed on white models, when women of color are struggling to even get enough experience to become more successful. However, this fashion week was certainly an excellent example of a large-scale effort by various designers and collections to make the biggest week in fashion a more diverse and welcoming arena for models and spectators alike.

Additionally, and equally important, this Fashion Week also featured several models with disabilities. For the past couple of years, Fashion Week has started to include more and more "diversely-abled" models. These models, who, in the past, may have been considered too "imperfect" to walk at a major event like this, are now leading the campaign to prove that disability does not define a person or their beauty.

This year, Rebekah Marine walked alongside adorable, 6-year-old Gianna Schiavone. Both of them are congenital amputees, meaning they were born missing part of one arm. Their walk on the runway was certainly inspiring for plenty of other people with similar disabilities, many of whom probably believed until recently that modeling was something people with disabilities would never succeed at. These two models broke down barriers and proved that physical differences don't have to detract in any way from courage, beauty and success.

Madeline Stuart, a young Australian model with Down Syndrome, also walked the Fashion Week runway for a second time. She is one of the only models with Down Syndrome to ever walk a runway, and she's the first to walk in a New York Fashion Week show (starting last September). Her career has skyrocketed in the last year, all of which she documents on Instagram. Madeline truly declared herself a professional model with this return trip to NYFW. She's now modeling all over the world, and inspiring people every step of the way.

It is clear now that some of the designers and coordinators of these shows have realized that "traditional" beauty is a thing of the past. I hope that 2016 will be a year for continuing to prove that people of every race, ethnicity, and ability can be equally as talented and beautiful. Every one of these models was perfect proof of this.

And really, it is well past the time for the world to realize this anyways. People of every race, ethnicity, and ability have something to offer, in any field or industry. Bravo to New York Fashion Week for opening their eyes more and more to this fact.