Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 20, 2017 during the Fall 2017 collections.  But fall is around the corner — and before we talk trends — let’s look back at the best of the fall 2017 runways.

Thanks to New York City, fashion month is starting off bold.  Designers not only acknowledged the current political state through graphic tees, but also rekindled the fashion industry’s relationship with pattern mixing and bold hemlines.  Now that New York Fashion Week Fall 2017 is over, let’s take a trip down memory lane as we reminisce over the top 100 looks from New York Fashion Week that had us gushing, plus a few that had us shaking our heads.

The winning runway looks

The power-duo from Cushnie et Ochs stayed true to their original roots of making body conscious and fitted skirts stylish and classy – forget the 20-something’s Clubwear looks.  Their neutral-colored collection full of form-fitting pieces not only featured dresses and skirts – with cutouts flashing toned abs, and slits showing off the model’s long legs – but included flared trousers and off-shoulder blouses.  Like their previous collections – the house will soon be celebrating their 10-year anniversary – all of the looks are wearable and runway-to-street ready.

While we admired the simplicity of Cushnie et Ochs, we applauded Milly’s line of deconstructed menswear that boasted subtle flares of femininity.  Designer Michelle Smith paired classic men’s button-downs – a disheveled version with irregular buttoning and undone sleeves – with leather culottes and pencil skirts. On the flip-side, Smith included a micro-mini fringe skirt topped off with an exaggerated cropped cable knit sweater, and a silver sequined slip dress layered under a slouchy mohair sweater.  Milly’s collection had us obsessing over the imperfections in fashion, and proved to us that looking put-together doesn’t require crisp, streamline, or sleek-anything.

Raf Simons blew our minds with his debut collection for Calvin Klein.  While a fur coat is always a must (especially for us Chicago-girls who constantly endure fluctuating weather), Simons put a unique twist on the trend by adding clear plastic on top of the looks.  A mustard yellow longline coat, a feathered shift dress, and a topless micro-floral midi skirt — all featuring the cellophane-inspired textile — graced the runway, and gave us inspiration on how to update our favorite textured pieces.

The collections that came in last place

While we love a good political statement, sometimes designers get a little overzealous in their views which lead to confusion and major fashion faux pas.  In past years, Jeremy Scott has preached on how fashion isn’t an art to be worshipped (remember his Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear look featuring an “Enjoy God” graphic tank top), and how football locker rooms are anything but friendly (throwback to Fall 2014 Ready-to-Wear collection where Gigi Hadid wore a fuzzy maxi dress that resembled a football jersey.)  While we (somewhat) understood what his collection was trying to provoke, his ensemble comprised of hot pink extra-long pants, paired with a zebra halter tank, topped off with a military jacket with butterfly patches just didn’t resonate – nor work.  And as much as we appreciate graphics, Scott’s “Sex is Cute” baseball tee dress rubbed us the wrong way.  Political statement or not, the stars just didn’t align for this year’s collection.

Not only was the political statement overdone, but so was Alexander Wang’s all-black line.  Yes, Alex Wang is on our worst collections list! He simply offered nothing new besides the fact that “there will be no after party.” While the construction of his garments are something to note – like his crisp blazer, ruffled trumpet skirt, and high-waisted leather pants – the collection was just plain — for a lack of a better word —  boring.  For a designer as talented as Wang, we had hoped to see a collection that has a new edge to it and not an edge that’s becoming a bit dull.

Top trends

Designers like Diane von Furstenberg, Kate Spade New York, and Alice + Olivia resurrected the trend of mixing prints, colors, and textures.  Jonathan Saunders livened-up the DVF house with a silky royal blue and turquoise striped maxi skirt paired with an aqua mermaid-inspired crop top, while Deborah Lloyd moved away from Kate Spade’s ‘preppy’ roots by mixing a floral print Victorian-esque dress with polka-dot tights and a leopard print skinny scarf (leopard is all the rage right now, read more about that here).  On the other hand, Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet combined sequined pencil skirts with lacy blouses that radiated ‘party-girl-goes-Victorian’ vibes.  All three collections gave us style inspiration on how to mix-and-match our personal fashion favorites into one cohesive look – I know we’ll be walking down Michigan Avenue rocking polka-dot tights!

Moving away from the design elements of fashion week, this season was full of politics – and rightfully so.  While public schools typically refrain from mentioning anything government-related inside their hallowed classroom walls, designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne wasted no time incorporating politics into their Fall 2017 Public School collection.  Models strutted down the runway to the tune of “This Land is Your Land,” donning “Make America New York” baseball hats – throwing ultimate shade towards President Donald Trump’s motto.  Our favorite look from the collection was an ultra-cropped “Make America New York” sweatshirt paired with slouchy sweatpants and sneakers, giving a political ode to sportswear. Prabal Gurung and Christian Siriano also expressed their political opinions with This is What Feminism Looks Like, I am an Immigrant tees at Prabal, and People are People shirts at Siriano.

Another major runway trend was asymmetrical hemlines.  Whether Beaufille’s ruched mustard-yellow skirt with a swooping hem, Sies Marjan’s seafoam green billowing dress, Christian Siriano’s jeweled high-low blazer, or Rosie Assoulin’s ruffled gowns – the looks made a statement.  Paired with a bell-sleeved cutout turtleneck, an oversized boat neck blouse, silky wide-leg pants, and pointed-toe heels, respectively; translating the ensembles from the runway to the street can be easily accomplished when you think outside of the box.

All of our favorite looks (including the ones mentioned) are in the slideshow above! Which collections were you obsessing over?